


Runaway

by WizardPartyForever



Category: Death Note & Related Fandoms
Genre: Cannon up through Yotsuba arc, Incomplete, L does not die, M/M, Rating may change to explicit, Sharing a Bed, Traveling, Yotsuba!Light
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-11-04
Updated: 2018-11-24
Packaged: 2019-08-17 11:30:21
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 18
Words: 45,302
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16515584
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/WizardPartyForever/pseuds/WizardPartyForever
Summary: After Rem foils his plan to have her sacrifice her life to kill L, Light loses his memories in a failed plot to guarantee his innocence. Panicked, he flees the country with Misa, but L will not give up on catching his prime suspect so easily.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

  * Inspired by [Disorder](https://archiveofourown.org/external_works/431174) by bahari. 



> Hey everyone! This is a fic I wrote a few years ago for Nanowrimo, but never got around to editing until now. Full disclaimer: this fic is unfinished, and while I am still very passionate about it and I hope that posting it here will give me the motivation to finish it, anyone familiar with my update schedule will know that I'm not always great at... like... doing that. Still, this is my oldest fic and it's still very dear to my heart, so I hope you love it as much as I do!
> 
> PS: this fic was inspired by the fic Disorder by Bahari on fanfiction.net - it's one of my absolute favorite fics, and, even though it's unfinished, I highly recommend giving it a read!

Despite what Light Yagami might think of her, Rem wasn’t an idiot. Though it was true that she was willing to sacrifice her life for Misa, it was of her opinion that a person’s ability to love didn’t have any correlation to their brainpower.

That opinion wasn't set in stone, and there were instances where she hand doubted herself; after all, she was certain that the intelligent, selfish boy in front of her had never truly loved someone in his life. Nevertheless, she had enough of her reasoning ability intact to figure out his plan.

The human’s habit of mumbling his thoughts to himself turned out to work in her favor, or else she surely would never have caught onto his train of thought.

“... I’ll have to have Misa continue the killing, then.”

The simple sentence had confused her at first. He was free, why couldn’t he do it himself? It was his choice to stay at headquarters for the majority of his time, after all - but then, she realized, wouldn’t it be suspicious if he started going home more often, and the killings immediately restarted? It was the most obvious solution that he have someone else - Misa - do it for him.

Only a few seconds after Light muttered the words, Rem knew what he was planning. And she would have gone along with it, would have gladly killed L to save Misa, had he already set his plan in action. Unluckily for him, though, she would not allow him to put Misa in that sort of danger.

“Light Yagami.” The boy flinched and let out a noise of surprise - unlike Ryuk, she was easy to forget about; he had probably thought he was alone in his room. “I know exactly what you’re planning, and I will not be used.”

He spun around in his chair and shaped his face into an innocent expression of confusion. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

“Yes you do,” she growled. “You plan to place suspicion on Misa, so that I will kill L for you.” His face briefly contorted into a look of surprise, but it was gone as soon as it had come.

“I love Misa more than anything. I would never do such a thing.”

“I will not argue with you, and I have no desire to hear your lies. Know this, though: if you place me in a position where I must sacrifice myself for Misa, I will not hesitate to kill you as well.”

Light looked vaguely panicked at this statement. “I thought you cared about her happiness? She loves me very much. I don’t know if she would ever be happy again If I were to die,” he stated in mock sadness.

“You are too dangerous for her,” Rem stated in the gravelly voice that always seemed to unnerve the boy “Without me, there is nothing to keep you from getting rid of Misa.” The thought of Misa’s unhappiness hurt Rem, but her safety was a priority, and the Yagami boy would just be a danger to her.

Light sneered. “Don’t you realize, this is the only way I can kill L!” He snarled. “He’s certainly not going to let Misa see him again; I’m sure he’s still suspicious of us. I have to kill him before he tests the 13 day rule.”

“I refuse to believe you can’t come up with a new idea, Light Yagami. I will kill L if he becomes a danger to Misa’s safety, but know that I will know if it is of your doing.” At this point the boy’s mask had fallen, and his eyebrows were creased in frustration.

“When I first met Misa, you agreed that you would kill L for me. What’s changed?”

“Now, if I were to kill L, I would die. I refuse to resort to that unless it is absolutely vital.”

“If you would die, that means he’s a threat to Misa’s safety, no?” He asked, face twisted into an ugly smirk. It fell when Rem said nothing, and he spun around to face his desk again. “Whatever. I’ll think of something new.

Though no one noticed due to his impeccable acting skills (other than perhaps L, but he didn’t say anything) Light was furious. As L explained his plan to test out the 13 day rule, he mused that this would have been the perfect time to have Rem kill L. Would have been, but the damned shinigami had caught onto his plan, and now Misa wasn’t in danger, so there was no reason that L needed to die.

The thought of L dying didn’t lighten his mood. In fact, it did the opposite. Light didn’t ponder the meaning of this; it came as no surprise to him that he would grow to like the man while he had no memories of being Kira. They could have become friends, Light thought, in a universe without Kira. No, it wasn’t Kira’s fault - it was L’s stubbornness. If only he would see it the way Light saw it - Kira was cleansing the world of evil! Kira was justice, just like L claimed to be! They were working towards the same goal - L was just too dumb to understand it.

Light found that the thought of L being dumber than him made him feel much better. Everything was fine. He had 13 days to think of a way to set things right.

“Light? Are you okay?” L’s voice shook him from his thoughts.

“Of course, sorry. I was just thinking.” Before L could ask him what he was thinking about, he continued. “So, who will you be using to test the death note?”

“That information will remain between Watari and I,” L said. “I do not wish for the information to leak and have Kira be able to kill the one using the death note after 13 days.”

Light felt the childish urge to kick something, and couldn’t keep all of the anger out of his voice when he asked, “So after all this time, you still don’t trust us?”

L looked up at Light as though he were a particularly dumb animal. “That’s a stupid question, Light. Of course I don’t trust you. That’s why I’m testing the rule,” he stated impassively.

The anger coming off of the rest of the team was practically tangible, and finally, it was Matsuda to break the silence. “Ryuzaki! I thought Light was cleared of suspicion!” He whined. “And besides, the killings have stopped! Higuchi was Kira! Why can’t you leave Light alone?”

“If Light were Kira, I doubt he would place the suspicion on himself by starting the killings immediately after he was freed. If Light is not Kira, he should have no objections to me testing the rule.”

Light could see that his father was about to jump to his defence, and found that the headache it would surely bring wasn’t worth it. “I understand, Ryuzaki,” he conceded. “If this is what it takes to prove my innocence, then I have no objections.”

“Thank you, Light,” L said in a tone that suggested he wasn’t thankful at all for Light’s input. “I’d like you all to spend the rest of the day going over our evidence, and continuing wrapping up loose ends.”

By the end of the day Light’s palms had half-moon indents from his fingernails, brought on by the clenching of his fists. It just wasn’t fair - if Rem hadn’t caught on to what he was doing, L would already be dead by now! But of course the stupid shinigami had heard him. Logically, it was his fault for voicing his thoughts aloud, but at the moment he couldn’t find it in him to care.

All this effort and he couldn’t even at least get L to stop suspecting him. And he knew, of course, that L would notice that Rem was attached to him in specific. No one knew that she was attached to the owner of the death note - they simply thought she had to stick by the notebook. But if she kept following him everywhere, L, at least, would notice. He had to get rid of her somehow - he had to get rid of both of them.

It had been a risky move, going home two nights in a row - would L notice Rem today? And dammit, he had to admit, he was  _ afraid,  _ because his plan had fallen apart and he only had two weeks to make and set into action a new one.

What he needed was a distraction. Something big enough that L wouldn’t test out the 13 day rule. Either that or...

“Rem, I need your help.”

“What is it, Light Yagami?” Drawled the shinigami.

“Rem, I need you to find out the criminal that L is testing out the 13 day rule on.” 

“You already know that we shinigami cannot use our eyes for the benefit of humans,” Rem said, and even through her monotone, Light thought he could sense a measure of irritation.

“Then don’t use your eyes,” he snapped. “You need to follow L around for as long as it takes until he says something about the prisoner testing the rule.”

“I do not like you telling me what to do, Light Yagami,” Rem growled, but he dismissed it.

“If you want to ensure Misa’s safety, I need you to do this. I can’t promise her safety unless you work with me.”

Rem was silent for a few minutes, but finally agreed.

“Right. Rem, I need you to go to headquarters tonight and find out the name of the criminal. Then... Damn, how will I regain my memories?” Light mused to himself. Rem wouldn’t be able to leave unless he forfeited the death note. He figured L would notice if she took Misa’s old death note from headquarters - Misa! Of course!

“Okay. So after you find the name, you’ll need to go and bring the death note Misa has to me. My memories are still connected to it - I won’t remember finding the one we have at headquarters, but I should be able to put the pieces together.”

Rem interrupted him. “And by confirming the existence of the 13 day rule, will Misa be free of suspicion?”

“Rem, as long as L is alive, I doubt he’ll ever stop suspecting us. But yes, this should draw the attention away from her,” Light replied.

“Then I will do this for you, Light Yagami. I hope I will not regret it,” Rem said, ignoring Light’s hint that if she would just  _ kill L already _ , she wouldn’t have to worry about any of this.

Light took a deep breath to prepare. Surprisingly, it wasn’t nervousness he was feeling - no, it was something akin to anticipation. He had to admit to himself that the idea of forfeiting the death note was... more attractive than it should be.

He was glad to be Kira again, of course - someone like Higuchi wasn’t fit to hold the title of  _ God.  _ The thought disgusted him. But working with L to catch the third Kira had been just exhilarating as being Kira, minus the murder. But, then, the murder wasn’t really bad - they were criminals! There was no reason that he shouldn’t indulge in this particular hobby. He was changing the world! It would be wrong of him  _ not  _ to continue, really. This was L’s fault. How dare L make him question his ideals?

So why was the thought of losing his memories so enticing? He wanted to be Kira, but without his memories he had felt so... buoyant. Yes, that was the word. He didn’t, of course, notice it at the time, but his memories were like a weight dragging him down.

Oh well. That was the burden of being a god. “Okay... Rem, I forfeit the death note.”

After a moment, Light realized that he was staring at an empty space in his room. And talking to it, which was odd. sometimes he had a habit of talking to himself, but he never had full conversations with empty air. What had he been talking about, anyway? It had to have been important, but he couldn’t remember his train of thought. Which was disconcerting, because memory lapses were unheard of with Light.

He looked at the clock, wondering if he should go to bed. Funny - it was only 10:00. Why had he gone home so early? They almost had the Kira case solved, and tomorrow L was going to begin... what was he going to do again? Something really important to the case, he knew - but Light couldn’t remember what it was. It was going tell whether he was or wasn’t Kira. But he was already cleared of suspicion, wasn’t he? He couldn’t remember why, but maybe L thought that wasn’t a good enough reason, and was trying to disprove it? What an asshole.

But the more he thought about it, the more Light couldn’t blame him. There had been so much evidence against him, but then... no, he couldn’t be Kira! Higuchi was Kira! Nothing made sense though; somehow he had forgotten half the details of the case, so who’s to say he couldn’t be Kira too? L had voiced lots of theories of how it could be possible while they were chained together, and there was all the evidence that had led to his and Misa’s arrest.

Misa. She was weird too. He didn’t remember even meeting her - suddenly she just appeared. But maybe she knew something? She wasn’t part of the investigation, but something told him that she would have answers - she was pretty resourceful.

Hesitantly, he pulled out the phone she had given him months ago (yet another question. Why hadn’t she just given him her number?) and called her.

“Light!” He winced at the squeal that she greeted him with as soon as she answered the phone.

“Hi Misa,” He said wearily. God, he wanted to break up with her. But for now, he needed her. “Sorry to bother you, but I have a few questions I need to ask.”

“Oh, Light, you could never bother me! I’ll do anything for you - whatever you need, I’m here for you!”

“Thanks, Misa,” he said with an eye roll. “I must have hit my head, or... Something, because I’ve forgotten some things about the Kira case. I know you’re not on the team, but I thought you might know something.”

“Of course, Light! Ask me anything, and Misa Misa will do her best to answer!”

“Well,” He began, “we were cleared of suspicion, but I don’t remember why. Did anyone on the investigation team tell you why?”

Misa was silent for several seconds. “Misa?”

“Sorry Light, I was just thinking. I... didn’t know anything about the case other than what you and Ryuzaki told me, and I wasn’t allowed to look at the evidence. Ryuzaki just told me that we were cleared of suspicion.” Something about her voice was... off. Was she lying? No, Misa was completely devoted to him! She would never withhold information.

Light cursed. Misa had been his last resort. There was no way he was going to tell the task force - how embarrassing, for him to suddenly forget crucial pieces of information! But maybe he could figure them out again on his own. He would just need to go to headquarters and look for the evidence he had somehow forgotten about, and then surely the rest would come back to him?

That thought in mind, he slipped on a coat and shoes before creeping downstairs and out the front door; he didn’t want to wake up his family and have to explain why he was going out so late. A few walked blocks and a short train ride later, Light stood in front of the intimidating building.

“Hello, Light.” Light jumped up from where he was standing, and turned around to look at L. “Is there any particular reason you’re here so late, or did you simply come to stare at the building?”

“I was having a hard time falling asleep, so I decided to put myself to use and work on the case,” he said with a laugh. “I guess I was just lost in thought. We’d better get inside. Why were you out?”

“Watari is busy at the moment, so I went to get myself some sweets. I feel much safer going out, now that the killing has stopped. Would you like a sucker?” He asked, brandishing the package of treats toward Light. The thought of L standing in line at a supermarket was amusing enough to draw a chuckle from Light.

He declined, and took a seat next to L in the investigation room. Fucking L. How was he supposed to look through the evidence now without looking suspicious? Surely someone like him would have it all memorized by now.

Apparently, though, he had luck on his side, because L seemed to be in a social mood, or, as social as he ever was. “Light, what do you think of the last two rules in the death note? I have expressed my suspicions about the 13 day rule, however, I have not heard your thoughts on it.”

The death note? 13 day rule? Light’s heart sped up in panic, but he kept his facial expression neutral. Okay. Two rules. L thought one was false. Should Light agree with him? But they were always fighting. So maybe he should disagree. And the second rule? L hadn’t said anything about that, but if he thought the first rule was fake, then maybe the second one was too?

“I see no reason for suspicion - Kira has stopped killing, hasn’t he? But I suppose the two are probably connected - if one is fake, I’m sure the other is as well.”

L hummed in response. “Well, that’s an interesting thought. I’ve considered it too, but it doesn’t really matter to me - I have no intention of destroying the notebook anyway.”

Okay, the notebook. The notebook was important to the case - some kind of evidence. And there were rules to it - was it Kira’s killing power? That made sense.

“So, uh, why exactly do you think the 13 day rule is wrong?” Light asked, praying that this wasn’t a stupid question. From the look L gave him, it was.

“It’s too convenient for you. While my every instinct tells me that you are Kira, this is the only obstacle in my path. Should the rule prove false, I will be almost 100 percent certain that you are Kira, Light.”

Light stared. He knew he was under suspicion, but... nearly 100 percent suspicion? The gravity of his situation hit Light, and he realize that he hadn’t breathed for several seconds. “Well,” he managed to get out, “I sure hope the rule is real, because I’m not Kira!”

L said nothing, simply turning in his chair to face his computer. Light suddenly felt the very pressing need to leave right away. “Ryuzaki, I know I said I was going to help out with the investigation some more, but now I’m not feeling too great. If it’s okay with you, I think I’m going to go back home.”

“Yes, go ahead,” L murmured offhandedly.

Light left as quickly as humanly possible, not caring if it seemed suspicious. He had to get  _ out. _

The cool air, though probably clogged with fumes and pollution, felt like the cleanest breath he had ever taken. He pulled out his phone and dialed Misa’s number, not knowing exactly what he was going to do, only that he had to think of something, because, and what a blow to his pride it was, he was scared.

“Light? What is it now?”

“Misa, we need to get away. L’s going to do something big tomorrow, which should prove whether we’re innocent or not, and frankly, I don’t know if it will work. He seems skeptical, at least.”

Misa was quiet for a period of time, as though she were thinking. “Light, you know Misa would do anything for you! Oh, and running away together would be so romantic!” She squealed, but after a pause her voice turned serious. “But whatever you do, be careful! You’re always going on about how L is determined for you to be Kira - he’d probably do anything to get evidence against you!”

Light was rather stunned that she had thought to warn him - of course, he didn’t need it, but from his experience, she had always been rather impulsive. “Thank you, Misa. I’ll call you once I’ve thought of a plan.”


	2. Chapter 2

Light Yagami was in Germany - a concerning fact, because he lived in Japan, which was most definitely not Germany. The difference was subtle, and were it not for his vague, panicked memories, he really wouldn’t have noticed that he was in a new country.

Really, there were few differences between the lavish hotel room he currently was sitting in and the task force headquarters. There was a phone book sitting next to him written in German, and the furniture was different, and Misa was laying next to him instead of L, but if he closed his eyes, nothing really felt different.

He got up and began making himself something to eat - he had a feeling they would be charged for the food, but shrugged it off. Misa would get charged for it, and that was the only reason he had taken her with him; he couldn’t pay for plane tickets and hotel rooms all on his own.

That was what he told himself at least; he certainly hadn’t wanted any kind of moral support in his escape, and he had in no way panicked over his loss of memories. Absolutely not.

His loss of memories, though - that was confusing. After realizing that he had little memories of the investigation, he had called Misa up, and quickly planned to run away. To Germany, apparently, though why they had picked here, of all places, was a mystery to him. Admittedly, his line of thinking was a bit of a blur now - the panic, he figured, was the cause.

He wondered if L had realized he was gone yet. He hadn’t exactly been subtle, and a quick glance at the clock told him it was around Five - so, one in the morning? Yes, there was no way L could have not noticed his absence.

The thought was, oddly enough, less panic inducing than Light would have thought. Surely his stunt would have sent his Kira percentages through the roof, and he should be avoiding L at all costs, but the idea of him looking for Light was... endearing.

Frightening, too. Light was sure he had tied all loose ends that might have given them away, but this was L - he was sure that the detective would find him somehow. And then...

No. Light couldn’t think about that now. It wouldn’t do him any good. Besides, he hadn’t really committed a crime - technically, he was no longer a suspect, and therefore could do whatever the hell he wanted. Still, even he had to acknowledge that it was pretty suspicious.

Misa interrupted his train of thought. “Light!” She said, with what was evidently the most enthusiasm one could muster having just woken up.

“Good morning Misa,” Light mumbled. “I’m just going to the bathroom - I’ll be back in a second.”

“Okay,” she giggled. When he came back, breakfast forgotten, she immediately snatched his arm into a clingy embrace. “Oh, this is so romantic!”

“Yes Misa,” Light agreed wearily. “Just remember - this isn’t a recreational trip.”

“I know, you’ve told me! We’re running away from big, bad L. But that doesn’t mean we can’t enjoy ourselves while we’re at it...”

“Of course we can. Just reminding you.” He reached over to turn off the light, but was stopped by a dramatic wail from Misa’s side.

“Don’t tell me you’re actually tired!” She cried. “You slept through the entire plane ride, and we’ve been in bed since we got here. Besides, I don’t know about you, but this time zone change has really thrown me off. I feel wide awake!”

Light considered this. “I’m just trying to adjust to the time difference, but if you want to get up, I can sleep with the light on.” He had L to thank for that skill.

“Or, you could help tire me out,” Misa suggested with a coy grin.

What was that even supposed to mean? He thought the hotel had a fitness center, was she proposing that they go exercise together? Light was just about to inform her that the gym was closed right now, before deciding against it - she would find some kind of loophole in his argument, as determined as she was to spend time with her. “You can tire yourself out,” he finally settled on saying.

“Ew! That’d be awkward, with you laying right there. I want our first time to be special!”

It took a moment for Light to take in her words, before he realized what she was saying. 

Though he found her annoying, he felt bad that he had used her for the case, and now for her money, and wanted to say something that wouldn’t hurt her too badly. “I... don’t do that,” he said.

“What do you mean you don’t do that? You love me, don’t you?”

Light couldn’t think of anything to do other than kiss her, which had always been a sure way to shut her up. Misa wasn’t a bad kisser, Light decided. She had a tendency to to go a bit limp at first, perhaps out of shock, but once they were going for a while, she really got into it - to the point of it being overwhelming. Eventually, he conceded to just sit back and let her do the work, as trying to match her enthusiasm was obviously a waste of energy.

It became a problem when she began pawing at his clothes. “Misa,” he said forcefully. “I still don’t want to do this.”

Misa pouted, but then grinned. “Fine. Maybe I will tire myself out!” She scampered under the covers, and Light soon realized with horror that it wasn’t an empty threat.

“Oh Liiiiight... want to... join me?” She breathed after some time.

Light rolled onto his stomach and squeezed his eyes closed - no, he really didn’t, but how could one not become aroused laying in bed next to a supermodel who was, as she put it, “tiring herself out?”

He wanted badly to get up and leave, get as far away from Misa as possible - and damn, he had left his food on the counter. But that would be awkward and rude and surely wouldn’t do him any favors in regards to keeping Misa loyal to him, which he needed.

It was frustrating, having to work for her loyalty - for someone who was supposedly devoted to him, she had a lot of needs, and it took a lot of convincing to get her to follow orders. It was irking - her childishness was irking - she had no right to make these demands of him!

She wasn’t as annoying as L at least - she didn’t munch on sweets all hours of the day, she sat like a normal person, didn’t accuse him of murder... She wasn’t the worst person to be stuck with.

“Light?” Misa asked tentatively, a while after it was apparent that she was finished. “Did I make you uncomfortable?” Light jerked his head in a motion not even he could interpret. Nevertheless, Misa wrapped her arms around him and whispered an apology, which he felt he really should appreciate, but simply couldn’t.

A voice inside his head suggested that if Misa was L, he would feel quite comfortable with the situation.

He ignored that voice.

For awhile, Rem had been at a loss of what to do, because Ryuk absolutely refused to let her borrow Misa’s death note, using some excuse that was obviously made up. He just wanted to see what was going to happen - but after overhearing the conversation between Misa and Light over the phone, so did she.

Light had panicked, it seemed, and now they had run halfway across the world together - not necessarily a bad thing. Misa was free of suspicion, and there was no way the killings would continue as long as Light did not regain his memories. All she had to do was kill the criminal who was going to test the 13 day rule, and everything would be perfect. Shinigami’s faces normally did not have a wide variety of expressions, but Rem was sure she was smiling at that moment.


	3. Chapter 3

L stared pensively into his coffee cup. Light was “sick.” According to Soichiro, he sounded terrible and was throwing up. According to Soichiro, Light had eye bags to match his own and had slept in past 6:00. Put simply, according to Soichiro, there was absolutely no way his son could come into work.

L didn’t believe a word of it.

Light had an immune system of steal - according to his health records, he hadn’t had so much as a cold in years. And Light would do anything to prove his innocence. He wouldn’t miss work for the world; especially on such a big day. There was most definitely something wrong.

His suspicions were confirmed after discretely sending Matsuda out to check. L motioned for Matsuda to follow him into the kitchen shortly after he returned from his “coffee run.”

“Ryuzaki!” Matsuda exclaimed. “I went to Light’s house and he’s not home! I knocked on the door, and no one answered, but I was expecting that, so I went and yelled at his window. I even threw a few rocks, but there’s definitely no one there. What do you think this means?” He asked, the distress in his voice clear.

“I’m not sure,” L said after a pause, which was not a complete lie. It made no sense that Light would just... disappear. Still, he was confident that it was Kira-related, and therefore had to be investigated. “Thank you, Matsuda. I will tell the rest of the taskforce.”

 Soichiro, of course was furious, both at the knowledge that his son wasn’t home and that L didn’t trust Light enough to believe that he was sick. While the man ranted, L busied himself by finding patterns within the floor tiles and thinking over the possible meanings of Light’s absence.

The only thing he was sure of was that Light’s Kira percentage had skyrocketed - or at least, it would have, were it not for that stupid rule that seemed to put all of his theories to a stop.

That was why he needed to test the rule. Because even though the killings had stopped and there really was no reason to continue the investigation, he was absolutely sure that Light and Misa had been, at one point, the first and second Kira. If he was being a bit obsessive about it - well, that was the reason he was the greatest detective in the world.

“Ryuzaki, are you listening to me? Do you even care that your behaviour is entirely inappropriate?” Soichiro, who had apparently not yet worn himself out yet, asked.

“No, not particularly,” he muttered. “It has now become apparent that Light skipped work for some reason, which is very out of character. My suspicion of him has been raised by-” 

But before he could make up a percentage a chorus of “Ryuzaki!”s from around the room interrupted him.

“What?” He snapped.

“I thought you said Light was cleared of suspicion!” L couldn’t tell who had said this, but it hardly mattered. The sentiment was clearly shared by everyone in the room.

“I lied,” he stated, and waited for the protests to die down before continuing. “If the rule proves false, then Light’s innocence will not be sound. Everything matches up except for this one rule, so I simply cannot assume he is innocent. Now, if you are all ready to start actually working, we must find Light immediately.”

“Ryuzaki, is this really related to the case?” Aizawa asked, rubbing his eyes in exhaustion. L couldn’t quite resent the exasperation in the man’s voice - he was well aware that his obsession with Light seemed unfounded to the rest of the team. Still, Aizawa was one of the most rational and unbiased of them all - surely he, at least, could see that Light had to be Kira? “The kid’s probably just sick of this building. I know I would be if I were stuck here for months.”

“The chances of that being the case are too small for me to consider it. I’m sure it has something to do with Kira. Now. Mr. Yagami, I would like to search your son’s room. You may accompany me, but I will be the only one looking.”

Soichiro seemed take aback at the declaration, but after a moment, nodded his head. “I.. will stay here,” he decided.

“Good. I will have Watari find the security footage from any nearby shopping centers and train stations, which I would like you to view.” L pulled out his phone to call Watari and informed him of the situation.

Watari listened to the explanation quietly, and agreed to meet L in the garage.

“Good,” L confirmed, and hung up. “While I’m gone, someone please check and see if Misa Amane is missing as well. If she is, feel free to search her appartement. It will probably give us more information than the Yagami household.”

“Wait, you think Misa will be gone too?”

“Yes, that’s most likely,” L drawled. “Light cannot drive, and if he really wanted to not be found, he would know that taking any kind of public transportation would get him caught on video. I still want you to watch the video tapes of course, and there’s always the small chance that they’ll reveal something.”

“Oh, so it’s too small a chance that he wanted a break from work but not that he took a bus?” Aizawa complained under his breath, but L ignored him. His investigation, his rules.

When he reached the ground level, Watari was already there, standing next to a car. It wasn't the limo, which L favored for its lack of seatbelts, but a much more discrete, less extravagant one. L nodded at Watari and climbed in the back.

He considered that this might be a trap - that the second Kira might be waiting to see his face as soon as he got out. It seemed unlikely. It would be far too incriminating, and the second Kira’s powers seemed far too valuable to risk losing. Otherwise, he was sure the second Kira would be gone. They knew too much, surely.

For some reason, the thought bothered him. He knew that Kira was ruthless, but the idea of him - Light, it had to be Light - killing someone just because he had no use for them was disturbing. It was something Kira would do, but would Light? Of course he would, because Light was Kira. Sometimes, though, L was beginning to find that it was worryingly difficult to remember they were the same.

The ride was short, and soon, they pulled up to the Yagami household. L got out cautiously, wary of onlooking neighbors. Despite having already ruled out the possibility of the ordeal being a trap, he felt uncomfortable out in the open. It soon became apparent, however, that no one was trying to kill him.

“Thank you, Watari. This may take some time; please go back to headquarters and find the security footage from any nearby shopping centers and train stations for the others to view. I will call you once I have finished.”

“Of course,” he affirmed, and drove off.

Getting inside was easy, of course, already knowing the inner workings of the Yagaimi residence security system. The pencil lead and paper were gone from Light’s door, presumably taken out before his confinement, but he kept that in mind anyway.

 L didn’t even know what Light was doing right now. Was it something that would leave any hints of where he had gone? Or was Light just running some Kira-related errands? No, something told him that the reason Light had skipped work was more significant than a shopping trip, in the same way that something was telling him Light was Kira.

He had never really participated in the physical portion of detective work, normally drawing conclusions from the evidence provided for him, but he was confident that he could do a thorough job of searching the room.

A few hours in, Light’s bedroom was a mess - he would have to have someone come clean it up before the rest of the family saw. Unsurprisingly, though, no evidence had revealed itself. It wasn’t as though L had been expecting to find anything, but he couldn’t help but be a bit disappointed. There was still the desk, of course, but as he set to emptying the drawers, he was feeling less than hopeful.

It wasn’t until he got to the top drawer that something piqued his interest. All it contained was a diary, which, after close inspection, turned out to be frightfully boring. But something was off - someinging had rattled after pulling it out. A fake bottom, he realized - the drawer was much more shallow than the others.

‘Yesyesyes,’ his mind chanted - this was perfect, there would be just enough room to hide a death note, all he had to do was - no. He couldn’t open it yet, L realized. The idea felt like a physical blow. He was so close to a piece of evidence, finally, but Light was meticulous; he would have rigged it or something. L would have to... sigh... Wait. Regretfully, he set the drawer aside to inspect later.

The taskforce headquarters was quiet, and held the air of exhaustion. Though the detectives were getting more sleep now that the case was practically closed, Light's disappearance had presented yet another setback, and even L was beginning to feel that there would always be some obstacle to beat.

"Ryuzaki!" Matsuda said enthusiastically when he got back. "Misa's gone, so the rest of the officers went to search her apartment. They left me here to watch the surveillance videos."

"Good," L muttered, already distracted by the drawer he had brought back with him. He desperately wanted to dismantle it, but also wanted to take a look around Misa's apartment himself. "How far are you into those?" He asked. "Nevermind, actually. I want you to drive me over to Misa's apartment, and finish watching these when you get back."

"Okay!" Matsuda exclaimed. L honestly had no idea what they had been thinking, having Matsuda of all people watch the videos - he would make sure to view them himself later, just to be thorough.

Misa's apartment was farther away than Light's house, but L was beginning to wish he had chosen to walk - Matsuda was over excited and seemed to have trouble keeping his eyes on the road. L couldn't even think over the case, instead warily observing the road and occasionally shouting at Matsuda when he wasn't paying attention. He had no idea how the man had survived as long as he did.

"Bye Ryuzaki! I'll be at headquarters!" Matsuda called cheerily once they arrived and L had gotten out of the car.

"Ryuzaki," Soichiro greeted tensely at the entrance to Misa's penthouse. "Did you find anything... incriminating?" He asked, as though the words pained him.

L opened his mouth intending to explain the false bottom, but stopped. Surely Soichiro would scold Light fiercely if he knew how secretive his son was being - but then, Light was Kira! When they found him, his father would be the least of his worries. Still, he found himself wanting to keep the boy from harm, and simply said, "No, Mr. Yagami."

Soichiro visibly relaxed. "Good. I was worried."

L nodded. “Excuse me."

He did not search Misa's apartment as thoroughly as he had searched Light's room. Light was clever and devious, but Misa, while still smart, lacked the finesse that would be necessary to hide anything from him. He did find something interesting though - a quick browse through her internet history, which nobody else had gotten around to doing, revealed several searches for flights and hotels in Germany - how curious.

He considered sharing the information with the team, because, the whole point of doing this was to find out where Light and Misa had gone. Yet now that he had a pretty good idea, he decided that he wanted to mull over the information on his own.

This decision found him sitting on his rarely used bed in his room for once, as opposed to the investigation room. It would simply be too easy for someone to look over his shoulder and alert the rest of the task force that L had evidence and wasn't sharing.

It seemed that Misa had mostly searched for big cities and such - not unexpected for a celebrity. This was good, it would be easy to hack into the city's security cameras. All he needed now was to figure out where exactly in Germany they had gone, and then he would be able to hack the cameras in the nicest hotels in the area.

It was almost disappointing how easy this was turning out to be - surely Light could have made this a little more challenging? Obviously, something had impaired his thinking. His mind jumped to memory loss, remembering the day in the cell when Light's personality had changed so drastically. That made sense; L couldn't see any other reason that Light would run away with the risk of being labeled as Kira.

But then - maybe that was it? Did he know that he was cornered, and as soon as L tested the 13 day rule, he would be under suspicion again? The idea was... plausible. But the Light he knew would think up a plan to get himself out of trouble. If he had undergone one of those personality changes again - but what would trigger such a thing? Was it voluntary?

That made no sense, unless Light was trying to distract him. It seemed unlikely though - why would he place himself under suspicion? He seemed willing to do anything to prove he wasn't Kira. Unless he had a plan to kill L - no, to kill the rest of the task force, because there was no way they would let his sudden disappearance go unquestioned.

Germany, though. How odd - according to his records, Light didn't even speak German. He could get around fairly easily with English, but Light would want to know what was going on, without even the slightest language barrier. So running away had probably been a choice made out of panic. L just didn't know what what cause he had to be panicked about.

He found that there had been one flight from an airport nearby - perfect. Now, what was he to do? Telling the rest of the team seemed most reasonable; he didn't want them to get mad at him for withholding information. Yet this seemed a bit more personal than just openly investigating Light. And he couldn't legally arrest Light, anyway (not that that had ever bothered him before) because skipping work wasn't a crime.

The only logical option was to go track Light down himself.

Watari, loyal as always, did not question his decision. Instead, he obliged to have their jet prepared by three o’clock in the morning - time enough for L to tell the task force and pack his minimal belongings.

"Ryuzaki, we have an investigation to do! You can't just leave halfway through!" Soichiro exclaimed. "You're the one who insisted we look into Light's disappearance in the first place!"

"Oh, I'll still be investigating - just in a different place," L said.

"Why? Do you have any new ideas?"

"Yes," L replied simply.

Aizawa looked ready to blow up. "Well? Are you going to tell us, or do you still not trust us?" He demanded.

"Things are complicated. Please do not get worked up - my anonymity is essential," L placated.

After several minutes of arguing and peacemaking, the team, while not content with the arrangement, had come to realize that Ryuzaki was L and L could do whatever the hell he wanted. Before he left, though, he wanted to take a look at the drawer, which he hadn't had time to examine since getting back.

There seemed to be no trigger that would get it open safely, and L was considering that perhaps there was no trick - maybe the false bottom was just that - a false bottom. Maybe Light hadn't planned for L to ever get his hands on it - but really, why take the risk? Light had proven with the pencil lead in the door trick that he was almost as paranoid as L; there had to be a trap.

He had an idea of what might be the trigger - there was a small hole in the bottom of the drawer that wasn't in the false bottom. Presumably one was supposed to stick something through to push up the lid, but the question was whether that would disable the trap or if there was something else one was supposed to do.

Yet there didn't seem to be anything else out of the ordinary, so after a long internal debate, L decided to test it out on his own. After all, what was the worse a teenage boy, even a genius like Light, could do?

Apparently, he could do pretty bad. L remained unharmed, thankfully, as the small hole had turned out to disable the trap. And what a trap it was - L was certain that the death note had been hidden here, as that was surely the only thing that would prompt Light to hide a bomb in his desk.

Alas, there was no death note - just a space exactly the right size for one. Disappointed but not surprised, L set the drawer with the things he would be bringing with him. It would require further investigation, a boring job the task force would be more useful doing, but he had yet to break the news to Soichiro, and most definitely didn't want to get Light in trouble with daddy Yagami.

"Ryuzaki," Watari announced over the intercom, which was connected throughout the building. "The jet is ready. We should leave now."

"Yes Watari," L said. "I will be down there in just a few minutes."


	4. Chapter 4

Light was beginning to find that his left hand felt far too light, and, embarrassingly, he kept calling Misa "Ryuzaki." She had thrown several fits over that, but really, it was hard not to when she, like L, seemed to have concept of personal space, and, like L when they were chained together, was always by his side. He found the comparison to be comforting; he quite missed Ryuzaki. Imagining Misa to be him helped quite a bit though, as long as he didn't look at her, or listen to her voice.

They had spent much of the day sightseeing in Berlin, partly to appease Misa and play the part of the perfect boyfriend, and partly because he simply had nothing else to do. Misa took great joy in tugging on his hand and pointing out anything out of the ordinary. Light had to admit that the European style buildings were pretty aesthetically pleasing to look at, but he was pretty sure Misa was just using the opportunity to hold his hand.

"It's so colorful," she sighed in awe. "Ooh, let's go into that restaurant!" She exclaimed.

The restaurant in question looked very upscale, yet claimed to be family run - a recipe for expense. He was immensely glad that Misa would be paying.

"Okay," he agreed. He was quite hungry after all - he hadn't gotten to eat his snack that morning after Misa's upsetting performance.

They chose to eat inside, though there were tables with umbrellas sitting out front. It was November, and starting to get pretty chilly.

After lunch, they came back to the hotel. As tired as he was when they arrived, Light hadn't noticed the lavishness of the place, but now he could definitely see how it had grabbed Misa's attention. It looked about as fancy as the hotels L had used for headquarters before building the skyscraper. L wouldn't have liked it though, Light didn't think. there were far too many outdoor pools, which would require way to much exercise for him. Light smothered a snigger at that thought.

Then again, they had played tennis that one time - L said he was the British junior champion, right? Probably made up, but nevertheless, he was a fearsome opponent. And when they had gotten into a fight, Light remembered, that kick had been shocking. Something like that most definitely required practice. He wondered what L would look like doing something like that? The thought of him in exercise clothes - shorts and a t-shirt, perhaps - made Light laugh again. 

Light was suddenly filled with burning curiosity to know what L’s body looked like. It was disappointing to realize that he would probably never get the chance to experience that, though, unless he somehow managed to make himself a suspect in a case again - which was beginning to seem like not so bad an idea.

Light was jerked from his disturbing thoughts, luckly, by Misa. "Light, what are you laughing at?" She demanded.

"I - nothing," he said. "There was a woman in the lobby with a funny looking had, that's all."

Misa pouted. "I have the exact same hat."

He quickly bent down to deliver a kiss onto her forehead. "I'm sure it looks gorgeous on you."

When they got back, it was around one. Light was quickly becoming sick of Misa; her constant talking was getting on his nerves. he quickly resolved that he would need to find a job - but there were so many things he was looking for, that would be near impossible. It needed to be online; he would likely be moving around. It needed to let him stay anonymous, which most would not let slide. And, of course, he needed to make enough money to eventually dump Misa.

Whatever. He was a genius. He could figure it out.

The next morning, Misa was gone, which was completely fine by Light. She had left a note mentioning that room service had come by and given her a flier for some kind of sale at a store down the street.

He got up and made breakfast - oatmeal today.

"Good morning, Light."

"Good morning, Ryuzaki," Light replied, taking his oatmeal out of the microwave, before dropping it and whirling it around. "Ryuzaki!"

L looked incredibly smug, and even in his weird crouched position managed to make the chair he was crouched in look like a throne.

"What the hell are you doing here?" Light demanded.

L grinned. "Following my main subject, of course," he replied, grinning - well sort of. L didn't seem to have a lot of facial expressions that weren't completely ridiculous.

Light sniffed disdainfully. "Last I checked, I was no longer a suspect."

"You're not, but running away the moment you get a bit of freedom - that's quite rude, not to mention suspicious."

Light barked out a laugh. As if L knew anything about what was rude and not. “Maybe I just wanted a vacation.”

L said nothing, simply continuing to stare at him. “Talk about rude,” Light muttered under his breath as he began to clean up the mess of his spilled oatmeal.

“I apologize, Light, but it’s quite distracting, you see.”

“What’s distracting?” Light asked suspiciously.

“It is so rare that anyone is gets to see you in your pajamas,” L explained. “One cannot help but stare.”

Light sent L a glare. “If you’re not going to do anything but tease me, then you can leave,” he spat.

L ignored him. “I could put on my pajamas too, and we can have a pajama party,” he suggested. “I have never been to one, but I hear they are quite fun.”

“Whatever. Do whatever you want. I don’t care.”

Misa came back with a bag of cute clothes she had got at the sale to the sight of Light and Ryuzaki sitting on the bed in pajamas. Ryuzaki, the creep, was oggling her boyfriend, while Light stared at his computer, seemingly determined to ignore the other person. The facade was broken when every so often Light would furtively glance over to his companion. They were, Misa was happy to see, filled with distrust and annoyance.

Good - the pervert deserved it, even if he was Misa’s friend!

“Ryuzaki! What are you doing here?”

 Light’s head snapped up in alarm, while Ryuzaki simply gazed up at her lazily. "Hello, Misa."

"What are you doing with my boyfriend?" She shouted

"We are having a pajama party." L answered. "You see, Light seemed rather disgruntled when I complimented his pajamas, so I offered to put mine on as well to make him feel less out of place - Light is so touchy about fitting in. Would you like to join us?"

"Ew!" Misa squealed. "What, are you trying to see me in my pajamas or something? Only Light is allowed to see me like that!"

Light coughed in embarrassment. "Misa, I'm sorry. Ryuzaki showed up out of nowhere, and I didn't know how to get him to leave."

Misa considered the situation carefully. Ryuzaki was her friend, after all, even if he had been so rude as to break into their hotel room. But didn't he work for L? Light had been so worried about L finding them, why was he being so nonchalant about it now? "Ryuzaki, why are you even here in the first place? Are you working for L?"

"Yes, I am. Don't worry though - L cannot arrest you, as you are no longer suspects."

Light gritted his teeth and narrowed his eyes, and for a moment his and Ryuzaki's eyes locked. Misa simply couldn't figure out what was going on between them - after all, Ryuzaki was their friend and he and Light got along pretty well. And Light should be pleased to hear that!

"It's a shame then," Light muttered, "That L hasn't been known to follow the laws he so strongly supports at times."

Misa interrupted their stare down by suggesting breakfast. "There was a coffee shop I walked by that looked really cute. We should go there!”

"That sounds like a wonderful idea!" Ryuzaki agreed.

Ryuzaki insisted on being weird and ordered cake. Not even an acceptable breakfast cake, like coffee cake - no, of course not. It was chocolate - chocolate cake, chocolate frosting, and even a bit of shredded chocolate to adorn the top.

"Ew, Ryuzaki! You're so weird!" That claim was further supported when Ryuzaki insisted on talking about Kira, of all things. "That's not an appropriate breakfast topic," she tried to reprimand, yet L seemed dead set on engaging Light in conversation. She finally excused herself to go to the bathroom, tired of being ignored. It wasn't fair! Light was supposed to be hers - they were running away together! It was like a giant date! Who did Ryuzaki think he was, stealing her Light from her? Misa huffed and decided that breakfast was overrated.


	5. Chapter 5

“I was not aware that you were this infatuated with Miss Amane. While we were working to find Higuche, you said you were not interested in her,” L said when Misa left. For whatever reason, the thought that Light was with the supermodel for any reason other than that he hadn't gotten around to breaking up with her made L angry, and he felt the pressing need to confirm that this was indeed nothing more than a one sided relationship.

"I was planning on breaking up with her, but, what can I say?" Light responded. "She's a charming girl; I suppose I just couldn't help but to fall for her."

L knew this was a lie - obviously Light was just using her for money. "Oh really? And here I thought you needed her for something... perhaps the shinigami eyes?"

Light hissed. "I'm not Kira, I've told you that, Ryuzaki. And I remember also telling you that it goes against my morals to manipulate a girl's feelings that way."

"Do you think Kira would think wrongly of it?"

The question stunned Light for a second, simply because he didn't know. "I doubt it," he said eventually. "I mean, he obviously believes that the ends justify the means - I doubt that he thinks manipulating women is any more wrong than murder..." Light faltered.

"But?" L prompted.

Light glared at him. "I'm not sharing my ideas with you; you'll just use them against me."

"I promise nothing you say right now will be held against you," L lied.

"Whatever. It's not like you can do anything to me now. I was just thinking that Kira claims to be making a better world, but that world surely wouldn't include manipulating women," Light explained.

"We've already confirmed that Kira is an immoral person - if you would please tell me something I don't already know..."

Again, Light sent him a nasty look, which was a disappointing trend. "You know what? Fuck you, Ryuzaki."

That was troubling - L thought he was just teasing. Apparently, though, insulting Light's intelligence was not a barb he took well to. "I apologize, Light. Here, have a piece of cake." L took a generous forkful and handed it over to the other side of the table - quite the gracious offer, he thought.

"Ugh. No thanks, I'm not eating off a fork you had your mouth on!" Light snapped. "I'm going to go check on Misa. She seems to have lost herself."

L shrugged and shoveled the mentioned fork into his mouth.

A moment later Light came back. “She’s leaving, she said she was feeling tired.”

Finally. “That's no problem," L asserted.

"Well, I hope you realize that you're paying for this," Light said. "Misa has all our money."

Ha. 'Their money?' Light's reason for bringing Misa along was much clearer now, though he'd been thinking along those lines before. A strange sense of relief went through him at knowing that money was the only reason the two were together. "Of course, Light. I would not be a true gentleman if I didn't, would I?" Light opened his mouth, probably to protest, but L cut him off. "Of course, it's arguable that I lack most attributes of a proper gentleman."

Light muttered something under his breath, which sounded like some sort of agreement.

"Under that logic, though, you should be the one paying, no?"

"This is stupid, Ryuzaki. Are you going to pay or are we going to have to dine and dash? I'd rather not resort to that," Light said.

Light's apathy was beginning to get on his nerves. "Of course not! What kind of terrible date would I be if I did that?"

There - a reaction! Not a positive one; admittedly saying that had been a stupid idea if he wanted Light to react positively to him.

"Excuse me?" Light would surely be roaring were he not in a public place. Instead, he settled on a quietly outraged tone of voice.

"Light must not overreact to these things," L teased, as if he had not just insulted Light's masculinity and implied that they were on a date.

"I - you're unbelievable." Light huffed but slumped in his seat - an unheard of sight.

"Perhaps we should be going. You seem tired, and I admit that even I am a bit thrown off by the time zone change."

"You're tired?" Light laughed. "That's new! As I recall, I had to beg for sleep at night while we were handcuffed together."

L shrugged. "I need sleep just as much as the next person. I just happen to repress it a bit." He set some money down and stood up. "You can stay here if you wish, however I will be returning to our hotel room."

"Excuse me - our hotel room?" Light asked. "Last time I checked, only Misa and I were staying in it. You just showed up.”

“Are you not sharing with me?” L asked. "I'm afraid I didn't think to get my own room, as I assumed I would be staying with you." This was not true, of course, but staying in the same room would make it hard for Light to run away again without him noticing that something was off.

"You're full of shit, L," Light said in response.

"That's a yes, then."

When they got back to the hotel, Misa was sitting in bed in her nightgown. "Light!... oh. What's the pervert doing here?" She whined.

Light sighed. "I guess he's staying here."

"Ugh! Can't he get his own room?"

"No," L said. "I unfortunately am on a budget."

L noticed Light coughing to conceal a snort of disbelief. He ignored it and picked up his pajamas off the floor - yellow and pink, with little easter bunnies on them. They were on sale when he got them.

"Ew! Ryuzaki, you can't just undress in front of us!" Misa squealed at L, who was halfway through with removing his shirt. "Tell him that's weird, Light."

"That's weird, L," Light said hollowly, but his eyes revealed amusement - just a little. He probably didn't see anything wrong with the situation, given them having to undress in front of each other while handcuffed together. It just seemed normal.

"Ugh, Ryuzaki must be the worst roommate ever!"

"Tell me about it," Light mumbled. L decided, so as to not further upset Misa, he would get dressed in the bathroom. When he was finished, he dropped himself onto the portion of bed unoccupied by Misa. She of course complained, loudly and annoyingly, but L was able to block her out. He’d slept a little over 24 hours ago, so of course he couldn’t actually sleep until at least later that night, but he wanted to see what Light would get up to when he thought he wasn’t being watched..

"Excuse me Ryuzaki, what do you think you're doing?" Light asked.

"I'm sleeping. Obviously."

"It's not even noon yet, if you ever want to get used to the time zones then you can't sleep this early!" Light reprimanded.

"I assure you Light, I have traveled far more often than you. I know what I'm doing," L said. "Now please, I would appreciate it if you would turn off the light so I may rest."

Light and Misa both huffed. How presumptuous. Did he just expect them to sit in silence for a few hours waiting for him to wake up?

Apparently so. L looked at them expectantly, cuddled up under a mound of blankets and pillows. Finally, Light reached over and turned off the light.

"Excuse me, Light? What are you doing?" L asked as Light crawled into bed as well.

"Well, I'm not going to just sit in silence while you get to sleep. I'm taking a nap as well." Misa huffed at his antics, but apparently agreed, and climbed into bed as well. It was crowded and claustrophobic, especially since Misa insisted on clinging to him in order to stay as far away as possible from Ryuzaki.

Light was already regretting this. He had done it to annoy L, but instead he was having to deal with Misa's uncomfortable embrace, not to mention being much too warm. When the other two appeared asleep, he wiggled away and grabbed his computer. Now was the perfect opportunity to make a getaway plan.

Of course, the entire hotel was probably monitored, and there were few places he could go where he wouldn't be caught on video, so as a solution, he took one of the blankets at the foot of the bed and threw it over himself and his computer.

He was awakened from his research be a screech from Misa two hours later. "Light! Ryuzaki was cuddling me! Eww!"

Light took the blanket off just in time to see L when he said, "I apologize Misa. It was not my intention to make you uncomfortable." From the look on his face, though, Light could tell that had been his exact intention. Ass.

"Really, Ryuzaki, you should be a little more considerate of my girlfriend's feelings," he said teasingly.

"Again, sorry. I just have no control over what I do in my sleep, you see."

This felt nice - the banter between L and him. For whatever reason, it had grinded to a halt over the last few days, since they captured Higuche and found... the.. again, Light couldn't remember what they had found - but it was important! He knew that much. Whatever it was, Light knew it was the reason for the wall that had come up between them in conversation.

Light suddenly felt compelled to explain everything to L - how he couldn't remember certain things, like why he was free, and what their main piece of evidence was and what the hell was the thirteen day rule? Oh, right. The thirteen day rule: the whole reason they were running away in the first place. Even if he did explain his confusion, nothing would change - he would still have to get away, because what if the rule proved true and he was Kira?

L wouldn't make an exception. He wouldn't believe that Light truly had no idea how he could be Kira, nor did he have any memories of it. No, continuing to run away would be the only option.

“Well, Misa and I should really be going,” Light said.

"And where would you be going?" L asked.

"On a date, of course!" Light said, sending an adoring look toward Misa. "And no, you may not come," He continued. "Misa and I haven't had a real date in ages!"

Misa darted across the room to tackle Light. "Really, Light?" She asked. "That's so thoughtful!"

Light smirked at L, who was giving Light a calculating and oh-so-slightly hateful look. "I see. Well, don't let me bother you," he said delicately.

Well, now Light had the problem of figuring out where to go. He had no money, of course, and they had to go somewhere private where they would be able to talk. He remembered seeing a park on the way from the airport which would do nicely. Settled on his decision, he waved goodbye to L, who was practically glaring, and walked out the door hand in hand with Misa. When they reached the park, he sat her down on a bench and leaned in close.

"Listen, Misa. While you were sleeping, I made reservations for a hotel in a city a few hours away. Tomorrow morning we've got to start driving; we should be able to make it by noon.

"Oh, but Light!" Misa whined. "Ryuzaki's our friend! Do you really think he's a threat?"

"Yes, Misa, I think he's very much a threat." It was irritating, how attached Misa became to people. Though she didn't know he was L, she had hated him up until he had made that stupid comment about her and Light being made for each other. Honestly. He would have to get rid of her soon.

"If you say so Light," she agreed. "I'll try to get a lot of sleep tonight, and then we'll wake up extra early!"

"Good," Light said. "Now - our date?"

It was terribly boring. There was a garden that Misa wanted to walk through, with, admittedly, a very pretty array of flowers. Or at least, there would have been a very pretty array of flowers had it not been November. Because of that, all they saw was green and brown, yet Misa took much joy in holding his hand while looking at the dead plants.

When they returned to the room, L was gone, which was expected. Pfft, of course he had his own room, and it was probably in the same building too.

Light spent the rest of the day looking for a job. For whatever reason, L seemed particularly interested in his relationship with Misa, and Light didn't want to give him any clues that he was planning on ending it. He also needed to craft a false identity eventually, because going home any time soon wouldn't be an option.

It was a tedious process, especially considering he would have to make a new one fairly often if he wanted to move too far. He was now Light Yoshida, from a Japanese family in America visiting Europe with his uncle. So far the ruse was fairly simple, but he would elaborate later. For now, all he needed was a bank account and basic identification information. He felt that he should make an identity for Misa, because even if he dumped her she would still be a runaway suspect, and probably needed some sort of protection as well.

When he asked her, though, she said she was already using one, along with a fake bank account she had "just in case." He really had no idea what she would need that for, but was struck by the thought that she really was smarter than she looked.

They decided to go out to eat around six, agreeing that they would go to bed the moment they got home. Of course things could never really be that easy.

Surprisingly, L had left them alone most of the day. Unsurprisingly, he simply could not stay away for a full 12 hours, and he was the first thing they saw when they walked into the hotel room.

"I feel quite betrayed that the two of you ate dinner without me," was the first thing he said.

"You wouldn't have eaten anything other than sugar anyway!" Misa accused.

"Does that mean I should be denied food?"

"Really, Ryuzaki," Light sighed. "You can get food on your own. Besides, we were hungry, and we had no way to contact you, even if we did want to bring you along."

"Why, Light!" L gasped - if it could be called gasping. "With your impressive observational skills, you really should have noticed. My room is just down the hall from here!"

Okay, that was a bit embarrassing, and definitely something Light should have caught. But his thoughts were a bit preoccupied today, and he hadn't seen L enter or leave the room. He really couldn't be blamed. "Well, I can't change my actions now. I'm sorry, we'll be extra careful to tell you next time we decide to do anything other than sit in our room. We wouldn't want to upset you, would we?"

"There's no need to go that far. I'm just put out that you would forget me," L said.

"It was a romantic dinner!" Misa cut in. "People don't invite their friends along on romantic dinners!"

L’s expression turned sour, which in turn filled Light with glee. 'Is he... jealous?' It was unlikely, but the idea was amusing and also... something else.

"Yeah, Ryuzaki," he parroted. "Misa and I were having a romantic dinner together. Alone." Yes, there it was. L did not like the two being alone together, and it ran deeper than them just being his suspects. Hah.

"Well then, now that you're done, would the two of you be interested in finishing our pajama party? It was, unfortunately, cut short this morning."

"No, we can't," Misa said primly. "Light and I have to wake up early tomorrow."

"Do you? May I ask what for?" Light glared at Misa, who didn't seem to notice it as she was busy covering her mouth and looking shocked. Honestly.

Light cut in before Misa could try to fix her mistake on her own. "We're going to the fair. It's an hour's drive away, so we have to leave early."

It was obvious that L didn't believe the lie. He supposed they had made it kind of obvious with the looks of shock and the glare he had sent Misa's way. Well, L couldn't prove it wrong. Instead, he asked, enthusiastically, "Well then, may I come? I have never been to a fair - or was this another date? You know, three dates in two days is going a bit overboard, even for a couple as clearly in love as the two of you, don't you think?"

The last part was heavy with sarcasm, but Misa didn't seem to get it. "Aw, Ryuzaki, you're so sweet! Of course you can come with us!"

Ugh. This was getting ridiculous. She was smart - Light knew she was smart! So why did she always have to mess up his plans?

L seemed to notice his distress. "Are you okay, Light? One would think you would be happy to spend time with a friend, especially in such pressing circumstances."

"Of course I'm happy, Ryuzaki! But I have a very bad headache, so I'm going to be going to sleep now."

"Oh? But what about our pajama party?"

Light rolled his eyes. Obviously L just wanted to be able to keep an eye on him when he woke up - well, fine. "Of course, feel free to stay the night, although it's not a very new experience anymore, is it? I don't know about you, but I'm pretty happy to have my own bed now," he said.

"Well, I do not normally sleep in a bed, so it makes no difference for me, but we never did anything very fun during our period together. This will be a new experience altogether."

Light proceeded to put on his pajamas without kicking L out. He was... really enjoying this, if he had to admit. It was a shame he had to leave tomorrow, but he wasn't going to change his plan. Sticking around was way too dangerous. "Yeah, whatever. Just no cuddling Misa."

"A bit jealous for her?"

"Yeah," he muttered. 'jealous of her, more like.'

They went to bed several minutes later.

"Ryuzaki, you sleep on the other side of the bed!" Misa called. "And don't touch us."

She, of course, was cuddled up to him, enveloping him in a stifling heat. He didn't complain though; he was too tired to protest. Exhausted from the days events, he fell asleep quickly.

When he woke up, it was dark out. It wasn't morning; the clock on the night stand read two in the morning. He closed his eyes to get a few more hours of rest, but... something was off. Misa was still cuddled up next to him on his left, giving him arm space on the right... but that wasn't right.

Misa was on his right, by the window, and Ryuzaki... Oh. Ryuzaki was on his left, by the door. it didn't take a genius to figure out who was currently spooning him.

What the hell? In all the times he had imagined cuddling Ryuzaki (which had most definitely only happened... never) he at least had been the big spoon. How presumptuous of L to take such measures! Even if he was asleep and had no control over his actions, it seemed rude to Light. He wiggle away needing to use the bathroom, anyway, and when he came back, made sure that he was in the position that, if, by complete accident of course, he and Ryuzaki were to drift toward each other in the night, which they of course wouldn't, he would not face the humiliation of Ryuzaki holding him.

When he woke up, luckily nothing of the sort had happened, because Misa was curled up around him, preventing him from moving in his sleep. He wasn't disappointed, of course, but if he were, then it was only because he had missed a chance to prove his dominance over L.

"Misa," he whispered over his shoulder. "Wake up."

"Yeah?" She yawned loudly. L didn't wake up though - thankfully he was an extremely heavy sleeper, which was why he had insisted on having cameras in their room while they were handcuffed together. Light probably could have done anything he wanted without waking him up.

"Let's get ready to go. Pack up quickly, I can't believe Ryuzaki's slept as long as he has as it is. Skip getting ready - we can stop somewhere on the way, but we need to leave now."

"I can't start my day without at least brushing my teeth!" she hissed.

"We can stop somewhere, but we need to get going," he placated in a hushed voice.

Ignoring Misa’s protests and complaints, Light stood up and began packing. L tossed around a few times in bed, but didn't appear to be waking up, so they were able to leave without incident half an hour later. He would, of course, likely see them packing up on the security cameras, but he had probably already guessed that they were planning on leaving this morning.

Misa had rented a car, which was good. The bad part was they had to way of returning the car once they were at their destination; they likely wouldn't be returning to this city. Misa urged Light that they could just take it and she would pay the fee, but he thought that would still kind of be a dick move. Instead, he decided that they would take buses and trains, and possibly take taxis in between if there was no other option.

With all of Misa's bags, this had been a hard decision to make.

It was unnerving, to have no plan - Light didn't even know what buses and trains he was taking. It made him feel vulnerable, but things sort of turned out good: they didn’t have a terrible amount of trouble getting to their hotel. The downside was that Light had chosen a shabbier place in order to throw L off their trail, and was going to need to break the news of to Misa eventually.

"So, Light, where are we going?" Misa asked him after they got off the bus and were walking to their hotel. "I certainly hope we don't have to walk this far; these shoes hurt!"

"Don't worry, Misa, we're almost there." It was just down the street, actually, and she wasn't going to like it. It really wasn't all that terrible - he had stayed in worse on family vacations  - but Misa was a celebrity, and celebrities do not stay anywhere that doesn't have room service. "Actually, it's right here."

Alarm lit up Misa's face. "It's... right here?" She asked tentatively.

"It's not as fancy as the last one, but I decided that this would be best to throw L off."

"O-of course. You're completely right!" She agreed. "You are so smart Light!" Misa proceeded to wrap her arms around his neck and kiss him on the cheek. Ugh.

"Thank you, and I'm glad you approve of my decision. Ryuzaki won't find us again," He assured her.


	6. Chapter 6

L stared at the video footage of Light and Misa packing up, while he just... slept. This was why he tried so hard to stay awake: because he missed important things when he slept. Not that that would have stopped Light; he probably would have simply ditched him in the middle of breakfast. Still, it would have hindered them.

In the middle of their packing up, Light went to the bathroom, and Misa immediately stopped putting her stuff together to write something down. L couldn’t tell what it was, but Misa obviously didn’t want Light seeing it, considering she slipped it into the drawer of the nightstand right before he came out.

Interesting. What could it be that she didn’t want Light seeing? He grabbed a key card stolen from one of Light’s pockets and walked down the hall to the room. Normally the cards would have been deactivated by now, but L had bribed the receptionist to keep the room unlocked until he gave the okay when he first checked in.

He slid the drawer open and fumbled for the note... there! He took it our, read it, and... grinned.

The note was meant for him, apparently, as the first line read, “Ryuzaki...” He continued reading.

"Ryuzaki,

Light wants us to leave to throw you and L off course to finding us. I've thought long and hard about this, and I've decided to tell you that we're headed up north to Hamburg. I only feel comfortable telling you this because you're our friend and I trust you, so don't screw this up! Friends don't arrest their friends for being Kira.

Love, Misa."

L's smile faded away quickly at the last line. "Friends don't arrest friends for being Kira." Well, friends weren't supposed to plot their friend's deaths, and L was 90% sure that was what Light had been doing before running away.

For whatever imaginable reason, L felt guilty, because arresting Light for being Kira was exactly what he was planning on doing. He shouldn't have, because Kira deserved every punishment imaginable. Damn Misa - why should a written line make him feel guilty for serving justice? 'Kira,' he thought disdainfully.

Well, no matter. He now had a clue as to where they were. Now the only thing to do was to find where they were staying. He called Watari.

"Yes Ryuzaki?" He asked as greeting.

"I now know where Light and Misa are going. Kindly prepare our flight."

"Yes, sir," Watari replied, and hung up. Not for the first time, L felt a rush of affection for the man - unlike most people, he didn't feel the need to ask questions, and had long accepted that L knew best.

This flight didn't take nearly as long as the other had. In fact, it was only a three hour drive - but why do that when you could take an forty-five minute flight?

It was good to be L.

He had probably arrived at the same time as them, considering that they were probably traveling by car. Now to find where they were staying - that would be easy.

"Watari, please call all hotels and other lodgings in the city and ask if someone has made reservations about... five hours ago. If they won't tell, feel free to bribe them."

"Of course," the man replied.

The list turned out to be rather long, which was unsurprising. He found, however, that he was able to hack into most of the security cameras of them, so he could monitor anyone entering or leaving.

After a few hours of monitoring the lobbies of numerous hotels, he saw a couple, one with brown hair and the other blond, who were unmistakably Misa and Light. Light had probably thought that this would throw him off.

He wanted to go now, meet them in their hotel room and surprise them, show that he had found them, all thanks to Misa. But he was already settled in at the hotel he was staying in, and surely his presence would just scare them off again. It was tedious and painful, but he would just have to wait for tomorrow, at least.

In the meantime he busied himself with munching on the cake Watari brought him and contacting Soichiro. Though he dearly wanted to.. protect? Light from his father’s wrath that would surely come once he was able to make contact, Mr. Yagami did have the right to know where his son was.

He video called the task force headquarters, something he always preferred to talking on the phone. It made people much easier to read, and gave him more power, as, of course, he never allowed anyone to see his face.

"Ryuzaki!" Soichiro's panicked face was the first thing he saw on his computer screen. He looked tired, and eyebags outlined his eyes. "Have you found Light?" He demanded.

"Yes," L replied cooley. "I am reluctant to share his location, but rest assured knowing he is perfectly safe."

Instead of looking relieved, Soichiro looked outraged. "Why can't you tell me where he is?"

L had no justification for not wanting to answer this, so he said the first thing that came to him. "I do not have the legal rights to be following him as I am. He has asked that I not reveal to the taskforce where he is, or else he will file a restraining order."

"Wh-you're L!" He shouted. "You said so yourself - you've committed crimes! How is this any different? It's for the case!" He finished with desperation.

"Mr. Yagami, your son is 18. I really can't stop him from doing anything he wants," L said, purposely avoiding the question. "Do not worry. Light is my friend, I will make sure he comes to no harm. Have a nice day, Mr. Yagami." He closed the screen, having realized that he had been entirely truthful. Odd.

It was two in the afternoon, and Light was exhausted. exhausted of Misa, exhausted of traveling, and most definitely tired of Ryuzaki. Furthermore, Misa seemed entirely too cheerful about something. He was sure she would be angry at him for choosing such a gross (in her eyes) place to stay, but instead she walked with a spring in her step, humming and getting ready for the day, although what she was planning to do was lost on Light. He certainly wasn't planning on taking her on another date.

He was sure it couldn't be just the excitement of getting to spend time with him, as that had to have worn off by now. Finally, after a while, she declared that she was going out to go sightseeing.

"Do you want me to come with you?" He asked.

"No," she said firmly. "I'm getting you a present."

"Oh. Okay." Oh god, what was she going to get him? He hoped it wasn’t something mushy; he honestly doubted he had the energy to pretend to be thankful.

Misa did not bring back anything mushy, in fact, she thought the gift she was going to bring was quite thoughtful. The only problem was where to find... it.

Friends don't arrest friends for being Kira. Besides, Light wasn't even really Kira, she was sure; it was obvious, at least that he had no memories, so it didn't really count, right? That was why she had left the note for Ryuzaki. She was still a bit unsure in her decision, and she knew Light would be angry if he found out. But the damage was done, and Ryuzaki probably already knew where she was.

All that was left was for him to seek her out. She had assumed that he would approach them the moment they arrived, but he apparently was exercising some self control, as they had yet to be accosted by him. It was starting to get on her nerves; she had been wandering around the lobby for several minutes now, looking like an idiot and getting weird looks from the receptionist. He had asked her something a few minutes ago, presumably something along the lines of "what the hell are you doing in here?" But she couldn't be sure because she couldn't understand German.

Finally, she huffed and stormed out the front doors. Ryuzaki hadn't taken the hint and come over (and she knew the weirdo had to have security cameras here) and she still needed to get a present for Light.

There was a bakery a few blocks away that seemed crowded, so she settled to go into that. From her experience, Light didn't really like sweets, but she had seen him eat cookies offered to him by L, so those would work. Purchasing was a bit difficult, but the cashier spoke a little English, and so did she, so she got by. As an extra flair, she got some little heart shaped chocolates. Even if Light didn't eat them, it's the thought that counts, right?

As she was trying to squeeze through the doorway, which was packed with people, she ran straight into someone's chest. How rude of them! She was short and couldn't always take in her surroundings that well - he should have realized that and moved out of the way!

"Watch where you're going!" She shouted over her shoulder after finally getting out of the stifling space - and quickly realized that he wasn't a stranger. "Ryuzaki!"

He looked vaguely surprised at hearing someone call his name and turned around - "Oh. Hello Misa."

"You got my note, then?" She asked excitedly.

"Ah, no. I guess I'm just sightseeing."

Misa pouted. "That's bullshit." Her pout faded away quickly though, to be replaced with a grin, and she grabbed his arm to steer him away from the bakery.

"Miss Amane, where exactly are you taking me?"

Misa laughed. "To our hotel, of course! I told Light I'd bring him a present, and I waited for you in the lobby, but you never showed up!" She complained. "So then I went to that place to get him something, but he'll be even happier to see you!"

"Happy... to see me?" Ryuzaki asked. "He made you two run away to get away from  me, I doubt my appearance would bring him much joy."

"Don't be silly!" Misa scolded. "Light's running from L, not you! But you're our friend. He'll be happy, I promise."

Ryuzaki looked skeptical, but didn’t protest to being dragged along.

“Misa,” Ryuzaki said once they were standing in front of the hotel room door. "I really don't think Light will appreciate my presence here."

"Oh, don't be so insecure! I'm his girlfriend; I think I would know better than you what he likes." Finally having found their key card, she opened the door. "Light!" She called. "I'm back!"

Light was facing away from the door, on his computer. He turned around and smiled. "Hello Misa. Where did you go?"

"I went to a bakery down the street, and you'll never guess who I ran into!" She gushed, and stepped to the side to reveal Ryuzaki. "Tada!"

Light's face darkened. "You just... ran into him? By chance?"

"Yep!" Misa knew that Light was not happy - oops. But it would be best to stay cheerful - maybe some of it would rub off on him.

"...I see. hello Ryuzaki. Why are you here?"

"It's just as Misa said. We ran into each other at the bakery, and she dragged me along," Ryuzaki replied.

"That's not what I mean. Why are you following us? We're no longer suspects, you can't stalk us like this anymore!" Light yelled.

"Oh, I'm not following you," Ryuzaki said. "That bakery claims to be the best bakery in germany; you see why I had to come here to try it."

Misa stomped her foot. She had had enough. "Stop arguing! We're supposed to be friends!" Light and Ryuzaki's heads snapped toward her.

"I apologize, Misa. It was impolite of me to start an argument with Light." He stepped around her into the room and sat himself down next to Light. "What are you looking at, Light?"

Light slammed his computer closed. "Nothing," he muttered.

"Ooh, Light, I forgot, I got you something else!" Misa took the contents of her bag out and handed them to Light - a box of chocolate and a box of cookies.

"Thank you, Misa," Light said.

Ryuzaki stared wistfully as Misa passed the gifts over his head to Light. She realized he hadn't gotten to order anything - oh well. He certainly couldn't have any of Light's gift. That was for him!

Then, before her eyes, she saw Light open the box of chocolates, and... give one to Ryuzaki? She watched in apt fascination as Ryuzaki delicately took the chocolate between his lips - he wasn't even going to pick it up? And bite. "Thank you, Light. I haven't eaten anything today.

That wasn't all though - Light ate the rest of the chocolate himself! He didn't even seem disgusted knowing Ryuzaki's lips had been on it; in fact, he seemed to not even notice what he was doing. Instead, he was opening up his computer and getting back to whatever he had been doing before, although he appeared to be hiding it from Ryuzaki.

“Thank you, Misa,” Light said. “I appreciate it.”

Misa wasn’t sure whether she was being thanked for the sweets or Ryuzaki, but she smiled and said, “Anything for my Light!” Then, a few moments later: "Well, I'm starving! I haven't eaten since breakfast this morning!"

"Yeah, I guess we probably want to get something for lunch," Light agreed. "Ryuzaki, will you be coming, or are you going to go back to your place?"

"I'll be coming with the two of you, of course," Ryuzaki replied. "I was unable to get anything at the bakery, unfortunately, so I haven't had nearly enough sugar to allow me to think at the level I normally would."

"That's great! You've only been here a few minutes anyway; you can't leave now!" Misa said.

"Yes, that is true as well."

They went to a fancy - looking restaurant because of Misa's begging ("you owe it to me for making me stay in that gross hotel!") which Ryuzaki informed them was a seafood restaurant. He looked rather disappointed though, after looking at the dessert menu, which turned out to be pretty bleak.

"Light," Ryuzaki asked when they had ordered. "Do you have any more of those chocolates Misa brought you?"

Without saying anything, Light slid over a handful of chocolates. Misa couldn't help being annoyed. She knew he didn't like sweets, but he could pretend at least!

Their food arrived after a few minutes. Misa had gotten salmon, Light shrimp, and Ryuzaki had gotten a piece of chocolate cake. It actually looked pretty good, but she would never admit it, because cake was gross. She turned to her food. It looked amazing, and tasted accordingly. She looked up to see Light making a distasteful expression after trying his. So it apparently wasn't all that good.

She offered him some of hers, but he declined, and sat through the apparently nasty eating experience. Ryuzaki also offered him some of his cake, but of course he was declined. Instead of backing off, he took a forkful and moved it towards Light's face.

"Here comes the airplane..." He sang.

"What? Ryuzaki, what are you talking about?" Light asked.

"Oh," Ryuzaki said. "Yes, I suppose it makes more sense in English. It's a common phrase used by parents to get their kids to eat."

“Well that seems silly," Light scoffed. "Do you want me to think of you as my parent?”

“Of course not, Light. I was simply being silly, as you say. Excuse me, I need to use the restroom.” 

Ryuzaki left, and Misa watched, in confusion, as Light took a giant fork full of Ryuzaki’s food - almost half the cake! And plopped in onto his plate.

"Ryuzaki will be pissed," he said in explanation at Misa's quizzical look. Was he... playing a joke on Ryuzaki? An uncreative and not very entertaining joke, of course, but it was odd - Light was never playful like that with her!

A few minutes later Ryuzaki came back. "I apologize for being gone so long; I found it necessary to call Watari and... where is the rest of my cake?"

Light laughed theatrically. "Really Ryuzaki, you eat so quickly not even you can tell how much you've eaten?"

"Light... you stole my cake," Ryuzaki accused.

"Don't' be silly, neither Misa nor I like sweets. That's all you."

"Light... there is frosting on the corner of your mouth," Ryuzaki said.

Light's eyes widened comically. "There is? Hold on - Misa, do you have a mirror?"

Misa handed him the one in her purse. "Thank you." He spent a few moments observing his mouth from every angle - really, Misa cared about her looks too, but this was a bid extreme. It was just a piece of chocolate.

"Light, you owe me for that. This was quite a good cake," Ryuzaki said when he was done.

"No it wasn't," Light said firmly. "It was gross."

"Then why did you eat almost half of it?"

"Light was just trying to tease you," Misa said.

"Hmm. Well, I can say that that's new."

When dinner was over, they headed back to Misa and Light's hotel. "Ryuzaki, are you going to stay here for the night?" Misa asked.

She could see the cogs turning in his head, deliberating whether he would or not. Unexpectedly, Light piped up. "I still owe you, you know. For the cake."

Ryuzaki stared at him with his weird thinking expression. "Alright," he decided. "After all, there are still those cookies that I want to try."

Misa smiled, but was inwardly fuming. She got those cookies for Light! Ryuzaki was her friend, but she couldn't help having bad feelings toward him. Light just seemed so much more comfortable around him, and who was Ryuzaki to just come and eat their food? Even if Light was giving it to him, it was irritating. Instead of saying something about it though, she gave a squeal of delight. "Yay! It's like we're all taking a road trip together!"

Except for whatever reason, Light wanted to run away from Ryuzaki, and Ryuzaki was trying to arrest them. But other than that, it was basically like a vacation between best friends!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It's really cool reading my old works and seeing how my ideas about a lot of the characters have changed - reading the way I wrote Misa and Light, especially, is really weird, because I recognize my writing, but I don't think I would have written them this way now, haha. In a few chapters-
> 
>  
> 
> ((SPOILER ALERT))
> 
>  
> 
> -when I introduce the Wammy boys, I literally just didn't write in Matt, haha - I guess I didn't think he was that important. I also am... not very kind to Mello. I'm sorry Mello ILY


	7. Chapter 7

Ryuzaki was not quite sure how or why he was here. He originally hadn't even planned on approaching Misa or Light until tomorrow, but by some strange twist of fate, he had, quite literally ran into Misa at the bakery, and then been invited over. It was confusing, to say the least.

He apparently hadn't outstayed his welcome, though; Misa had practically commanded him to stay, and Light... had acted odd. His invitation wasn't as blatant as Misa's, but there was no mistaking what he meant when he told L that he still owed him sweets.

Light was now sitting next to him, working on his computer. He was being pretty secretive, but from what he had been able to see, Light was forging himself an identity. To do what with? Obviously running from L wasn't working, and it didn't even seem like he wanted to escape him. It was around seven, and though they had already had dinner, L was ready for more sugar.

"Light, where did you put the cookies Misa got you?"

Light reached behind him, under the bed, as they were sitting on the ground at the foot of the bed, and pulled out a box. "Here," he said, placing the box in L's lap. He was sitting "normally," as Light might call it, because there was really no thinking that had to be done at the moment. He'd been amusing himself with trying to sneak looks at Light's computer screen and seeing how obvious he could make it that he was looking up Misa's skirt (who was laying on the bed) without her noticing. He had been called a pervert numerous times in the last two hours, though he couldn't see why; she was wearing thick tights because of the cold, so it really didn't make a difference.

Nonetheless, it was fun to get reactions out of Misa.

With a loud snap, Light closed his computer.

"What are you doing now, Light?" L asked.

"Well, I realize that it's not very polite of me to make you just sit there and do nothing."

"Oh, don't worry about me. You're not making me do anything."

"Well, I'm tired anyway." Light rummaged through the drawers. "Ooh, cards. Do you know any games?" He asked.

"No," L replied. "I don't exactly have a whole lot of leisure time to use pursuing the learning of card games."

Light grinned. "I know a game."

"That's nice. Are you going to teach it to us, or are you just going to smirk at us?"

"It's called 50 card pickup," Light explained. "It's fairly easy - let me demonstrate." With that, he flicked the cards so that they scattered across the room. "Now, you just have to pick them up,” he said with an innocent smile as if he had not just set L to the task of picking up an entire pack of cards off the floor.

“That was a stupid trick,” L said dully.

Light shrugged. "You did ask me to show you."

"I did not," L insisted.

"You still have to pick these up."

L crossed his arms. "No I don't. You tricked me."

"Of course I did; I've always known I was better than you. In fact, I'm such a good person, I'm going to pick the cards up for you."

Light bent down, and L watched in amusement as Light began picking up the cards. A wicked idea came to him, and he struck his foot out. It made contact with Light's backside, and he toppled forward. The glare sent his way could have killed.

"How ungrateful," Light sniffed. "I pick up your mess, and you push me over."

"It was not my mess," L replied.

"Yes it was," Light argued. "That's the rules of the game. One person throws the cards, and the other picks them up."

L shook his head. "I doubt that's a legitimate game. It was probably invented to trick little kids."

"Well," Light retorted, "You fell for it. Are you saying you're stupider than a little kid?"

L simply glared. He was above such spats anyway. He went to lay down on the bed, but was promptly pinched by Misa. "No," she said. "You can't lay in bed with me."

Light smirked, having picked up all the cards. "Yeah, Ryuzaki. What do you think you're doing? I bet Misa would let me lay next to her, though."

Misa, of course, was all for the idea. "If you're trying to prove something to me, Light, then you're failing," L told him. "Misa is your girlfriend, therefore it is not out of the ordinary for you to lay next to her."

Light responded by kissing Misa straight on the mouth. 'How petty,' L thought, glaring at them.

"Why, Ryuzaki!" Light said theatrically, seeing the glare. "Could it be that you're jealous of me because of my amazing, gorgeous girlfriend?"

Misa giggled and wrapped her arms around his neck, but Light kept staring at L.

"Don't worry, Light; I look to pose no competition," L said. "You, at least, have nothing to fear. Misa, now..." He left the ending trailing off, wondering how Light would take it. He didn't seem to have heard it, or, at least, tried to interpret the meaning, though, because he was already distracted with pressing kisses to the top of Misa's head. L gritted his teeth.

After his obnoxious show of affection with Misa, Light climbed down from the bed and sat in his previous spot with his computer. "Well, if you guys aren't going to be interesting, then I guess I'll get back to work."

"And what exactly are you working on, Light," L asked, perching beside him.

"If you must know, I'm looking into the Kira case," Light said. "Just because I ran away, doesn't mean I don't care."

L made a humming noise. "Hacking into police files? How very Kira-like."

Light ignored him and focused his gaze on his screen. He appeared to be just looking over old information, yet L noticed his breath catch when he saw the scanned pages of the rules of the death note.

Alarm bells went off in his head - something that wasn't normal, something that wasn't the ordinary. Light had, of course, schooled his features once again, but he looked pretty focused for someone who was apparently just reviewing old information. L thought of last time there had been a behavior change in Light, when he was confined. There was no proof that he had forgotten anything, but... that would explain such a drastic change.

Then, sometime after catching Higuche, his attitude had changed. Their playful banter, at least on Lights part, had become scalding an malicious. But this Light here... this was the real Light - at least, this Light was the one he preferred. And as a bonus, he was pretty sure this Light wasn't Kira, either.

All he needed to know, now, was how this change was activated. Did Light have to do something, or was it involuntary? Was there a way he could keep Light from becoming Kira?

He was pondering this, when a dull thud landed on his shoulder. He looked over in surprise to see that Light's head had fallen on him - had he really fallen asleep? L knew that Light was a pretty light sleeper, and that impact would have normally woken him up. He had to either be extremely tired or faking it.

Under the assumption that travel just really tired Light out, L closed his laptop gently and slid it across the floor so that, were he to fall over, he wouldn't crush it. Then, He propped Light up so he was leaning back against the bed. Satisfied with his work, L returned from his thoughts.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> When you literally have 50,000 piping hot words of content ready to go but ur just to lazy to update daily :)


	8. Chapter 8

The moment he woke up, L realized that he must have fallen asleep - well, obviously, if he was waking up. But he must have fallen asleep on accident, which was not something that happened. He made note not to let himself become sugar deprived in the future; what if he was attacked? That would not do.

The floor was rather lumpy, not to mention warm - ah, that explained it. He wasn't laying on the floor; he was laying on Light. It was a trait that hadn't been a problem until he was chained to Light; but he tended to be a tad obnoxious on his sleep. They had solved that problem by having L sleep in the chair, but it seemed that tonight he had fallen asleep unintentionally.

He rolled over and fell off of Light with a thump, went back to sleep. After all, you can't catch Kira when you're sleep deprived.

When L woke up, again, he felt refreshed, and definitely rested enough to catch Kira. It didn't hurt that he happened to be holding the murderer in question, and that murderer was cursing his name and muttering phrases like, "Get off me, Ryuzaki," and "Misa's going to flip, you know."

After a moment, he felt awake enough to open his eyes and take in his surroundings. He and Light were laying on the floor, right at the foot of the bed where they had fallen asleep, and it appeared that he had, yet again, rolled onto Light and had his arms wrapped around him.

Light was worming around and pinching his arms in an attempt to make him let go - probably what had woken him up. Instead of loosening up, he tightened his arms, making Light cough. "Ryuzaki!" He hissed. "Let go of me!"

"Why would I want to do that?" L asked. "I've just captured Kira, and now you want me to let you go?"

Light was facing away from him, so it was impossible to see his face, but he could easily imagine Light's glare. "Are you still onto this? I'm not a suspect anymore!"

L finally wiggled away, his stomach helpfully letting him know that it had been a whole seven hours since his last helping of sugar. "If you say so. Kira." L reached under the bed, looking for - ah, there it was. He pulled out the white box which still had some cookies.

"Oh no you don't," Light said as he was about to eat a cookie, and swiped it out of L's hand. "You don't get to strangle me in my sleep and then eat my cookies without asking!"

"Well, may I have a cookie?" L asked.

Light considered. "Fine," he said pointedly, and offered the cookie he had just taken.

L took it and ate it in two bites, fairly impressive considering that it was about as large as the average human hand. He reached for another, but Light look the box.

"Nope. That's all you get," he said.

L glared. That wasn't nearly enough sugar to start off his day. "Is Kira trying to make me lose my thinking abilities by denying me sugar?" He asked.

"No," Light replied. "But I'm going to eat theses." As if he were proving something unbelievable, Light took a cookie and took a huge bite. "Mmmm," he hummed.

L looked mournfully at the crumbs that had spilled onto the floor from Light's messy bite. He would have never let so much cookie go to waste. In retaliation, he plucked the partially eaten cookie from Lights hand and shoved the rest of it in his mouth.

"That’s disgusting,” Light said.

“What’s disgusting is letting all those cookie crumbs go to waste!” L accused, pointing at the useless pieces now being absorbed into the carpet.

"Ugh. Don't talk with your mouth open. And don't worry, the cleaning lady will vacuum when we leave."

"That's not what I'm talking about. They could have been eaten," L stated. "When I eat my food, I take my bites as big as possible to ensure that little is lost in crumbs."

Light rolled his eyes. "Whatever. I'll make it up to you. That was the last one in the box." He glanced over at where Misa was still sleeping (in bed - lucky.) "Let's go back to that place and grab something to eat."

L studied Light. "And will I be paying?" He asked suspiciously.

"Of course you will.”

It was six in the morning, so, of course, the place wasn't that crowded, despite claiming to be the best bakery around. They were even able to grab a seat, table and menu.

"Read me the menu," Light demanded. "I don't speak German."

"However have you been able to get around without speaking the language?" L asked.

"Well, I've met a few people who spoke at least semi-fluent English. And I've been studying it, so I can read some," Light explained.

"Then why don't you read the menu yourself?"

Light grinned. "Because I like making you do things for me. And if you wont read me the menu, then I'm leaving, and you'll look like a loser sitting by yourself."

"With my posture and habits, do you really think I care if I look stupid?" L asked.

"Well, do you want me to leave?"

"No," L admitted, and began reading the menu. It was stupid, because Light ended up just getting a black coffee. "Bastard," L muttered under his breath.

Light simply grinned again. It was a very pretty smile, L reflected, but he knew it was not intended by Light to charm. No, it was to rub in other people's faces how very much superior Light was to them. Well, maybe just to L. The thought that Light had a specific grin he used just for him, though, was a very pleasant one.

Right as their food arrived, Light's phone went off, and after a moment of talking, he hung up and groaned. "Misa's awake. She'll be here in a second."

L himself wanted to groan as well. He was enjoying his time with Light, as infuriating as he might be, and really didn't want Misa dragging Light’s attention away from him. He made a decision over the course of five seconds of deep thinking. He was not going to let Misa do that.

“Ryuzaki! What are you doing?” Light yelped, as they were already halfway across the room. L had quickly put some money down on the table - probably more than enough to pay for Light's coffee and his cookies, one of which he shoved in his mouth, and grabbed Light's hand to pull him out of the restaurant.

"Call Misa and tell her not to come because you have to work on the Kira case with L," L told him.

"I - why?"

"Because I can't stand her and I don't want her around," L stated.

"Really?" Light questioned. "Because last I checked, we were all friends together, right?"

"Right now I don't want to see her," L amended.

L let them stop for just long enough for Light to comply, and then grabbed him again. "There's no need to walk this fast!" Light complained. "And let go of my hand!"

He did no such thing - in fact, he tightened his hold in order to prevent Light from slipping free. "We're walking this fast because I don't want to run into Misa," L lied. In reality, he wanted to get back to his hotel room, where he would be in a more comfortable area alone with Light. He had spent most of the last few days in Light and Misa's hotel rooms, which was completely unfair and interfered with his thinking process.

"Well, if that's your goal, you're failing miserable," Light pointed out. "Misa's across the street."

L stopped to turn, and sure enough, Misa was stomping down the sidewalk, looking incredibly pissed. She hadn't noticed them yet, but if she were to look up she would. They weren't exactly inconspicuous - Light was incredibly attractive, and L did not blend in with a crowd.

He decided that a full turnaround would be best to avoid disaster, and yanked on Light's arm to turn them around.

"Ow! Ryuzaki, knock it off!" Light hissed, rubbing his shoulder.

L considered the action. "I apologize, Light. I suppose I was a bit enthusiastic with my actions." He leaned down and pressed his lips to Light's shoulder. "There. All better."

Light did not look all better - he looked scandalized. "Ryuzaki!"

"Yes?"

"What was that?" Light demanded.

"I kissed it better," L explained. "Is that not customary? I'm sorry, I have never had it done to me; I've only heard about it."

Light huffed. "You don't just kiss things better." He didn't seem inclined to elaborate though, so L didn’t prompt him to continue.

“Come along, we’re almost there.”

L's hotel was considerably more classy than the one Light had chosen. L supposed that Light had chosen that one in particular in order to throw him off, and it really might have worked, had Misa not tipped him off. Who would have known, really, because though they were friends (on Misa's part, at least) Misa was also quite hostile towards him.

When they arrived, Light flopped on the bed.

"Really, Light, you slept for quite some time last night; one would think you were rested enough by now," L commented.

"I'm not tired," Light replied. "It just feels nice to not have to worry about bed bugs."

"Yes, you do seem to have a taste for luxury," L observed. "Could that be why you're still with miss Amane? You've made it quite clear that your relationship is one sided."

Light shrugged. "What can I say? I like nice things. Besides, I've already told you. My feelings for Misa have grown."

"Your actions toward her say differently. Playing with a young girl's emotions isn't a very gentlemanly thing to do, you know."

"I'm not playing with her feelings!" Light insisted. "And if you really must know, I plan on breaking up with her once I get a job."

"Ah, so you are using her," L said. "And you already have a job, which you ran away from."

Light apparently had selective hearing, because he chose not to reply and instead changed the subject. "So, you said we were going to work on the Kira case? I didn't think there was much we could do until the results came back."

He was right; there wasn't much to do, and him saying that had been a lie to get away from Misa. But, not one to back down from his word, pulled up a file on his computer. It was a word puzzle he was planning on solving in his free time. "Work on this," he told Light.

"What does this have to do with the case?" Light asked.

"One of the victims left it behind before dying," L blatantly lied. From the looks of it, he could tell Light didn't buy it either, but went along with it anyway.

They was in silence for awhile, Light working on the puzzle and L working on a case for Coil. The silence was unbroken, but not entirely uncomfortable. But after some time, something changed. He turned and Light was... just staring.

"Have you solved it?"

"No," Light said, entirely too quickly. “It’s really hard!” He added.

Light was right on that count. Near had sent it to him, claiming that not even he had been able to solve it. It appeared that the teachers at the Wammy house had finally come together to form a problem that would take the students more than five minutes to solve.

It came as no surprise to L, though, that Light was able to solve it, though for some reason he was denying it. Was he trying to make some sort of impression on L? That didn't make sense though, because if Light was trying to make and impression it would always be a positive one.

He craned his neck to turn and look at the screen with the puzzle on it, but obviously Light had done it in his head, because nothing was filled in on the screen, and Light wasn't writing on anything. He pushed it to the back of his mind. If Light wanted to be sneaky, he could be sneaky. L was almost completely sure that this Light wasn't Kira, so he could do whatever he wanted. L would be able to tell when he became Kira again, he was sure.


	9. Chapter 9

Light redid the puzzle, retraced his steps. No, he was right, he had the right answer. It as just... weird. And intriguing, but mostly creepy. It was a rather hard puzzle, he had to admit. More than hard, but the answer proclaiming him to be a genius was unexpected. Well, it didn't explicitly call him a genius, but the message, "looking 4 genius," followed by a phone number - well, it was pretty obvious.

It sounded like something out of a horror movie, and he was wondering if he should actually call the number - but why not? As long as he didn't use his phone... well, things could still go wrong like that. But he couldn't say he wasn't interested.

He had just made up his mind - yes, he would call. What did he have to lose? - when L abruptly declared that they should go out.

"Where?" This was unusual; Light knew that L was very uncomfortable with being in public.

"Out," he insisted. Light sighed, resigned to not getting a straight answer out of him.

"Alright," He agreed. It was, after all, still morning, and far too early to hole himself up inside. L certainly could benefit from a bit of outside time, too, although Light thought that his pale skin suited him better than any kind of tan would.

L's hotel was in the middle of the city, so it was a quick walk to where all the major activity took place. L still hadn't told him where they were going, and Light doubted he had any sort of plan in mind, but it was nice anyway to just sightsee, especially without his arm being yanked on.

"Let's go in here," Light found himself saying outside of a store. He looked in the window; it wasn't that interesting, but he was getting cold.

"Alright," L agreed.

It was a clothing store. Not traditional clothing which was a bit disappointing; after all, he was a tourist and would have liked to get a taste of the culture, but it was good to get out of the cold. He browsed for a bit until something caught his eye.

“L, put this on,” he said, pushing a bundle of cloth into L’s hands.

"What is this, Light?" L asked.

"A sweater," Light answered shortly. "Put it on."

"Light, I do not like clothes that stick out. What if I was running from an enemy and I was hindered by my clothes because they are too heavy?"

Light sighed. "L, in all the time we've worked together, no one has ever even come close to breaching your security systems. I doubt you'll ever have to run from an enemy."

L looked skeptical, but unfolded the garment and pulled it over his head. It was white, just like his regular shirt, but much warmer and more high quality, with cute knitted pattern on the front. 

"I do not like this, Light," L said.

"Why not?" Light asked.

"I just don't," L insisted. "It is not what I normally wear."

Light couldn't fathom that L would wear what he normally wore out of choice; he had just assumed that L was too lazy to go out and buy normal clothes. The shirts he always wore were made of some kind of scratchy material that was irritating to the touch, and the pants, while comfortable looking, had to be impossible to walk in (let alone run - L's arguments were bullshit.)

"It's freezing out," Light argued. "You can't tell me you wouldn't appreciate something like this in this kind of weather!"

"I have traveled all over the world," L said. "I am used to all kinds of weather."

The argument couldn't be true, Light was sure of it, but he arguing was probably useless. Instead, he set out to find L a pair of gloves as well.

L accepted those, but put his foot down at a scarf.

"Why not?" Light asked.

"I do not like scarves," L said, and refused to say any more. "By the way, you're paying for this."

"What? I don't have any money!" Light protested.

"Well then, I guess we won't be getting any of this," L said, looking incredibly smug.

Light crossed his arms. "Fine." He pulled out his wallet. "As It so happens, I do have a bit of money, though I was saving it for an emergency."

"Then save it for an emergency. I won't wear it."

"Yes, you will," Light ordered. "Besides, if you get hypothermia, it will be an emergency. Now, help me sort out this money. I'm still getting used to European money."

They left the store with one bag stuffed with the sweater, a pair of gloves, and a scarf (which Light assured L was not for him, but for Light, who actually cared about his health.) "Hold it," Light said.

"Yes Light?"

"You need to put this on."

"I've already told you that I'm not going to wear it," L objected, but his voice had become muffled, as Light determinedly shoved the shirt over his head. “Light, stop this!” He admonished once his head was free.

“There. You look nice,” Light said, pleased with his work.

“This is too heavy,” L complained.

“Oh, stop talking and put these gloves on,” Light said, and shoved a pair into L’s hands.

“I refuse.”

Light narrowed his eyes into a glare. “If you put them on, I’ll have Misa give you a kiss on the cheek,” he offered. He wouldn’t of course - Misa didn’t deserve to put her grubby hands on him - but L had seemed quite delighted last time. He didn’t look over to see if he had, but instead kept walking.

“I don’t want a kiss from Misa,” L said, catching up with him. Light noticed that he hadn't put the gloves on.

"I'll give you a kiss from me," Light offered. He narrowed his eyes in thought, trying to process what he had just said. Oh well - L wouldn't agree.

Sure enough, he shook his head. "I refuse to put these on," he said.

They were nearing a bench along the side of the sidewalk, and Light imperceptibly slowed his pace so that he was walking in line with L, and then-

"Light! What are you doing?" L yelped after Light had pushed him onto the bench, forcing him to sit down.

"Putting these gloves on!" Light replied. It was a struggle, but soon enough Light wiggled himself to be halfway in L's lap, holding his arms hostage. "Just sit still! You'll be warmer!"

"I'm not cold!" L insisted.

It was too late though: L's hands were already encased in a pair of scratchy gray gloves.

"See? That wasn't so bad," Light said smugly. Then, to both of their surprise , he bent down and pressed his lips to L's forehead.

In an abrupt movement, Light stood up, taking L with him as he was still holding his arms. "Let's go."

It was mutually decided that shopping was over, and they returned to L's room. The air between them, though, turned out to be so awkward, that Light felt he would be more comfortable in his hotel with Misa - imagine that!

"Ryuzaki," he called to get L's attention. "I need to leave. Misa's probably pretty upset; I should probably go console her."

"Before you leave," L said, "I have come to a conclusion."

A conclusion? About what? They hadn't talked about the case, certainly, so what  could he be talking about? "Yeah?"

"Your Kira percentage has gone up," L stated. "Obviously, you kissed me to gain my trust so that I would not want to arrest you. But I won't be manipulated so easily, Light Yagami."

"What - Ryuzaki! Honestly, I was fooling around," Light huffed. "You're reading too far into things. Goodbye," he said.

While walking back to his hotel, he remembered the puzzle L had given him, and realized that it obviously hadn't been for the case, since L hadn't asked for his results. Ha - the guy was so awkward, he had to make up jobs for Light to do to get him to stick around. But the answer - that was weird. Light wasn't good at telling what was easy and what was hard; being as smart as he was, everything just sort of smeared together. But now that he thought about it, he realized it had actually posed a challenge to him. And if it was hard for him, then only a genius could have solved it - just as the puzzle asked for.

“Excuse me, miss,” he asked a woman walking toward him, hoping she spoke English.

She stared for a moment, apparently thinking, before nodding her head. “Yes?” She asked.

“May I borrow your phone?”

Again a pause, before she said, “Please repeat.” He did, a bit more slowly and clearly.

She looked at him suspiciously, and he flashed her a smile. "Okay," she finally agreed, and held out her phone.

Light wasted no time calling the number. He didn't know what would happen, but the curiosity was eating him up. Finally, after what seemed like ages of waiting, someone picked up.

"Hello? What language do you speak?" Someone asked.

"English will be fine," he replied. The lady looked confused and a bit uneasy after hearing that - oops.

"Are you in public?" They asked. He realized that their voice was muffled, almost distorted - were they using some kind of program like L?

"Yes."

"Give us a second. We are tracing your location." Now Light was feeling kind of uneasy - really uneasy, if he were to tell the truth. Should he have really done this? "Thank you for waiting," the person interrupted. "Please move to a more private location."

"I can't do that. This isn't my phone," he explained under his breath.

"Very well. Are you borrowing someone else's'?"

"Yes."

"Give it back and call back once you've reached somewhere private," they ordered, and then hung up.

Light handed the phone back to the lady. "Thank you," he said, and went off, speed walking back to his hotel. There was a phone there he could use, though he was doubting the reasoning in calling from his room - they had said they were tracing his location, had they not?

It was too late now, though. His curiosity was far from sated; the mysterious conversation had simply sparked his curiosity further.

"Light!" Misa said when he arrived. "I can't believe Ryuzaki sent me off like that! He was so disappointed the other day when we ate dinner without him; I thought he would be happy to have me along to eat breakfast!"

"I'm sorry, Misa," Light said, stepping around her to reach the phone. "We can eat together though - can you run out and get us something to eat?"

"Of course!" Misa agreed. "Are you okay Light?" She asked. You seem a bit..."

"I'm fine, but I need to do something important. Alone," he added pointedly. "We can spend some time together later."

Misa looked like a kicked puppy, but Light couldn't bring himself to care. He needed to finish that phone call, and guessed that the mysterious person on the other end of the line wouldn't want his girlfriend listening in.

"Is this the same person?" The voice asked when he called again.

"Yes."

“What is your name?”

“Light Yoshida.”

"Please explain how you got this number," they ordered.

"I found it as the answer to a word puzzle," he said.

A pause. And then: “How did you find it?”

Well, he couldn’t explain the whole story, but, “A friend gave it to me” was good enough.

“I don’t suppose you could go into more detail?” The voice asked.

"Do I have a choice?" Light countered.

"Yes. We understand if you do not wish to disclose the details of your situation. As it so happens, this is the number of an orphanage for gifted children. The puzzle you found was our way of looking for new teachers. Would you be interested in the position?"

"I..." Light trailed off. That was a pretty abrupt statement; how could they expect him to make a decision like that on the spot? "Could you explain yourself a little more?"

"This school is very secretive, so we really cannot tell you much until you accept our offer. It should go without saying that, should you decline, you will not tell anyone about this."

That... didn't really help. But he curious, and it was a job, so that was a plus. And were he to accept, he could probably get away from Misa, considering how uptight they were being...

"Okay."

"You accept?"

"Yes."

"Very well. We have traced your location, and will be picking you up in two days. Please stay where you currently are; if you leave, then we will be forced to find you."

There was no spoken threat, but the words were obviously meant to be menacing, and Light was left wondering what he had gotten himself into. "Though our school is close to a town, we would prefer it if you did not have to make a commute, so you will be living here. Will that be acceptable?"

No, it really wasn't. Light enjoyed sleep (unlike a certain detective he happened to know) and didn't like the thought of babysitting a bunch of kids in his spare time. But he had a feeling that backing out at this point would be very tedious. "Yes."

"Good. We will explain further when we come to pick you up. Please make sure you are ready." They hung up, leaving Light to figure out how he would make the next two days work.


	10. Chapter 10

Well... that was sudden, to say the least. But several of his tasks were filled now, so he couldn't really complain. And besides, it was a school for "gifted children;" they'd probably be pretty complacent. He was, and despite his many quirks, so was L - give him a bunch of dessert and some case files and he was pretty quiet.

Now, to break the news to Misa. He couldn't tell her what was going on, of course, but he could make something up. He probably didn't even have to really break up with her, just stop talking to her. It was cruel, maybe. but it would probably work.

When she came home with a few boxes of takeout, he welcomed her with a kiss on the cheek. 

“Thank you for getting us lunch,” Light said. "I'm sorry for kicking you out, but I had something I had to do."

Misa beamed. "I understand. I know you really love me!" She said cheerfully.

Light took the boxes from her arms. "Let's eat; I've been stuck with Ryuzaki all day. You know what he eats,” he said.

“He’s gross,” Misa agreed.

They began to eat, Light rather unenthusiastically despite his words. Misa didn’t seem to notice, though, her attention being on her food.

"Misa," he addressed, halfway through their meal. "Ryuzaki's found us again."

“Oh.”

"We need to leave again,” he said. Misa's face fell, which surprised him. He would have thought that she would have liked to get away from their current location - not only was the hotel less than what the model was used to, but the city wasn't quite as glamorous as Tokyo.

"Liiiight," she whined, "Why do we have to get away from Ryuzaki? He's our friend!"

"Misa, he's just following us so that he can arrest us as Kira. You realize that, right?”

Misa huffed and crossed her arms. "You're so mean, Light. Ryuzaki just missed us, I'm sure."

"Look, Misa, I’m not going to argue with you, but I need your help,” Light said.

Misa’s face brightened a bit. “What do you need?”

“Well... we’re going to need to split up,” he began.

“What? Light, we can’t split up!” Misa protested.

“Misa, just listen. This is part of my plan. In a few weeks, we’ll meet up again, but in two days, I need you to buy two plane tickets to somewhere - you can go anywhere you like!” He added, seeing the increasingly upset look on Misa’s face. “And I’ll go somewhere else. But you need to buy the tickets under your name, so that Ryuzaki will follow you.”

“No.”

No? Misa wasn’t supposed to say no to him! She was in love with him; she was supposed to follow directions!

“But - why not?”

“You’re my boyfriend!” She said, as though that explained everything. “You’re supposed to protect me, not send me off to some random place! And you’re going to set me up as bait for Ryuzaki?”

Oh. Well, maybe he shouldn’t have phrased his explanation like that. “It’ll be a vacation,” he said. “Some time off.”

“I want to vacation with you!” She insisted. “I have an idea! I buy some tickets under my name, but I still come with you! That’ll really confuse Ryuzaki, I bet.”

“No.”

“No?”

“No. We need to go separate places for the next part of my plan,” he lied. “When Ryuzaki catches up to you, I want you to stay with him, wherever he goes.”

“What makes you think he’ll let me come along?” Misa asked.

“He’s obviously in love with you,” Light said.

“You think?” Misa asked.

“Oh, yes,” Light said, nodding enthusiastically. “Remember when you kissed him on the cheek? If you keep that up, I wouldn’t be surprised if he gave up on convicting us of being Kira - his poor heart wouldn’t be able to handle it!”

“Oh!” Misa exclaimed. “I get it! You want me to seduce Ryuzaki so he’ll let us go!”

Light’s demeanor darkened immediately. “No,” he said firmly. “That’s not it.”

“What? Well then, what do you want me to do?”

“Like I said, stay with him after he catches up to you.” Light was making things up now; he hadn’t planned on Misa protesting or demanding explanation on why exactly he wanted to send her away. “I want you to call me whenever he has a lead on where I am, so I can get away. Can you do this for me?”

Misa’s eyes were bright with excitement. “Of course! But I still think I should seduce Ryuzaki.”

The good mood that was beginning to overtake Light dampened. “Why’s that?”

“Well, how do you know that Ryuzaki’s not going to just drop me off in Japan? I’ll need to make sure he wants me around, don’t you think?”

Light was about to make up some reason why that wouldn’t work - in fact, he had one that was (hopefully) completely true: L wasn’t stupid enough to let his feelings (especially for Misa!) get in the way of his work. But there wasn’t a real need to do that. Rationally, Light knew that L found her just as annoying as he did. That didn’t mean he wanted Misa trying to seduce him. 

She wouldn’t succeed though, and Light stopping her would be a waste of energy. If L was even into that sort of thing, surely he would want someone intelligent (like Light.) In fact, sending Misa to bother him could be quite humorous; a big ‘fuck you’ in human form.

Mind made up, he nodded. “You’re absolutely right, Misa. I don’t know where I’d be without you.”

Misa glowed at the praise. “Thank you Light! But if this is your plan, then why bother buying the plane tickets? I can make the process quicker by staying here!”

Light sighed. Couldn’t Misa just go along with his plans without protest for once? “Yeah, that sounds good,” he agreed.

It was decided that after Light left, Misa would go to L’s hotel, in tears over how Light had disappeared. Then, Misa was would be tasked with staying with L by any means necessary, so that she would be able to warn Light whenever L was onto him. Misa was upset by Light’s refusal to even tell her where he was going, but he couldn’t tell her, because not even he really knew.

This wasn’t how Light had hoped things would go. He had wanted to send Misa off somewhere as part of his “plan” and then stop talking to her - hopefully that would send her a hint. But, he supposed, this was good too. Not that L would ever find him where he was going; he had the feeling that the security of this place would stop even L. But it helped to have a backup plan.

The idea that L would never find him was... Disappointing, to be honest. Strangely, though it was in his power, L wasn’t making any moves to force him to go back home, despite the Kira accusations Light had grown used to. Instead, he seemed to simply want to spend time with him.

Still, Light knew that if L truly wasn’t planning on arresting him, he wouldn’t be here, and he didn't want to be stuck in a situation where it was too late to escape. 

The next day was spent perfecting his identity (after all, surely a school with such tough security would want someone with a sound identity) and visiting L. (Not because he wanted to, but because Misa was somehow even more irritating.)

L visited this time of his own free will. “I’m surprised you’re still here, Light,” he commented. “I’d expected you to run away by now.”

“Do you really have that little faith in me?” Light asked.

“Yes,” L replied simply. “You know, in a few days the results from our testing of the thirteen day rule will come back.”

“Is that so?” Light still did not completely understand the thirteen day rule. He had gotten to take a look at the pictures of the death note the other day, but he didn’t quite understand what the rules meant, as there was little explanation to go along with the pictures. Still, he was convinced he understood enough to have a conversation with L about it.

“Yes. You realize that if the rule turns out to be fake, you will be a suspect again, and I will be allowed to take you back to Japan.”

“Ha. As if you care about authorization. Last I checked, your treatment of Misa was completely illegal. You didn’t need permission for that,” Light scoffed.

“You’re missing the point,” L said.

“And what’s that?” Light asked, without looking up from the book he was reading. He knew that L couldn’t stand people not paying attention to him when he was talking - similarly to Light himself.

“My point is that if you don’t want to be arrested, you should leave.”

What? Light looked up now, but L’s face was as impassive as ever. Was he... Trying to help Light get away? Light voiced his thoughts.

“Of course not,” L said. “I am justice. I wouldn’t dream of letting a suspect run away.”

His denial, though, confirmed Light’s thoughts. Odd. Did L just really like chasing him?

“So you’re going to let me leave, and then find me again?” Light asked teasingly.

L was silent for a moment. "I... do not know. My feelings toward you are conflicted. As my first friend, I am reluctant to have you executed. Do not think, though, that you will be able to manipulate me, Kira," he said much more clearly than before. "No matter my feelings on the matter, I will see that justice is served."

"I'm not Kira," Light protested half-heartedly, but L already seemed to have drifted off into his own world.

L's words were elating - L was so close to Light, he didn't want to arrest him. But they also bothered him. Was he really that sure that Light was Kira? Light couldn't be Kira, he knew; there was no way a person could do such horrible things and not remember it. But there were... inconsistencies in his memory.

While driving to the airport in Japan, Misa made a comment about how cute he looked in his pajamas. She then went on to talk about how she never saw him in anything casual, to which he objected that once he wore a sweatsuit. But he couldn't remember why he had worn such a vile thing, or even why he had it in his wardrobe. The day stuck in his memory: he had spent copious amounts of time on the train, he knew, and he had done something important - but that didn't make sense, because he always liked to dress up on important days.

The memory bothered him, because he remembered why he had worn the outfit: he didn't want to be recognizable.

All in all, it was a troubling thought, that he tried diligently to avoid thinking about.

"L, I have something to tell you."

"Is it a confession?" L asked immediately. 

"No," Light said shortly. "It's why I left."

L turned all of his attention toward Light, apparently listening intently. "Go on,"

"The day before I left," he began, "I realized that I had no idea why I was no longer a suspect. I had no memories of the death note or the rules. I remember capturing Higuche and that something significant happened, but I didn't know what it was."

"Light," L interrupted. "We met at headquarters that night. Why did you not inform me of this memory lapse?"

"I came there hoping I could take a look at the evidence, and maybe figure out what had happened. And if I had told you, can you really say you would have done anything other than accuse me of being Kira?"

The remark made L visibly shrink, hunching in on himself further. Light immediately regretted the comment, but didn't apologize. It was true that anything different with Light would just be seen as evidence that he was Kira, and L couldn't deny that. Still, he was surprised and just a little intrigued to see that L was actually hurt by him. Was it that Light had so little faith in him?

“I see,” L murmured. "Well go on."

"Right. Well, as I said, I came to headquarters, but you were there, so I wasn't able to look at the evidence. We started talking about the thirteen day rule, and I didn't quite understand it, but I learned enough to realize that if it proved false, then you would have a lot of evidence against me as Kira," Light said. "That really freaked me out, so after I left, I called Misa, and we made plans to runaway."

L was silent, apparently processing the information, and then: "This is very interesting, and I am grateful to you for telling me this, as it is extremely relevant to the theories I have been developing. But I must ask," he continued, "Why are you telling me this?"

"The holes in my memory are very disconcerting, and I was hoping you could help me out. As it seems, you already have some ideas about it - care to share?"

"I'm not sure that these theories have anything to do with your memory loss," L began. "Rather, they have more to do with you recent change in personality."

"My change in personality?" Light asked.

"Yes. During your confinement, I observed a drastic change in your attitude towards your confinement - when you first volunteered, you warned me not to let you out under any circumstances," L explained. "Yet several days in, you began demanding that I let you out, and insisting that you weren't Kira. At least, protesting much more enthusiastically."

Light remembered that, sort of. It was as though a veil had been lifted from over his eyes, and he realized that it was ridiculous to think that he might be killing someone without being aware of it. He couldn't remember much of his confinement before that moment, but he knew that at the time it had been a perfectly logical thing to do.

"I believe that something similar has happened here. After capturing Higuchi, your personality seemed to revert back to where it was before, but now, I believe it has changed yet again." L was studying him now, as though expecting some sign of Kira to show itself on his skin if he just looked close enough. Finally he spoke again: "My question is whether this change is voluntary or not. You seem to be quite upset over your loss of memory; I can't imagine you making yourself vulnerable on purpose."

"And you think my personality changing is connected with my loss of memory?" Light asked.

"I believe so. I will need time to think over my conclusions, but I believe we are onto something." L stood up. "I should be leaving now."

Light didn't want him to go knowing that, unless L were to visit him at three in the morning tomorrow, this would likely be the last time they saw each other.

Light stood up too, so that he was towering over L's slumped form. The problem was amended when Light grabbed L's upper arms and pulled him up so that he was standing straight, and wrapped his arms around him.

"Light, what exactly do you think you're doing?" L snapped, standing rigid in Light's arms.

"I'm hugging you," Light said. "I would appreciate it if you hugged back."

"Why?"

"I would appreciate it," Light repeated, voice muffled by the shoulder he was speaking into.

After a moment L hugged back, but not for long. After just a moment he pulled back and reverted to his normal slouch. “Would you like to explain now, why you thought that was necessary?”

“I’m taking your advice,” Light said.

“Oh,” L murmured. "Well, I hope you realize that there's no need. I will be finding you again."

Light smiled. "If you say so."

"What makes you so confident that I will not?" L asked.

"That's a secret."


	11. Chapter 11

Light collapsed in his chair, suddenly exhausted, and if he had to admit it, emotionally drained. He was becoming more confident by the second that L would not be able to find him wherever it was he was going, and that, for some reason, was not as reassuring as he would have expected.

"Don't worry, Light," Misa called from across the room, where she was lounging on the bed. "I'm sure you'll see each other soon!"

"I don't want to see him soon, Misa," Light insisted. "That's why I'm running away."

"But you seemed so sad! Are you sure we really have to?" She asked.

"Yes Misa, I do."

"But when will we get to see each other if you never let Ryuzaki find you?" She asked, eyes wide with panic. "I'm not going to be stuck with him forever, am I? Oh god, what if he decides he likes me too much and never lets me go?"

"Misa, don't panic," he placated. "I'm sure after he realizes he can't find me, he'll just drop you off in Japan. Then you can tell me, and I'll come back."

That seemed to calm Misa a bit. "Okay," she agreed. "Light, how long do you think this is going to take?"

"I really don't know," he said truthfully. "He's a pretty determined guy; I don't know when he'll get bored."

Misa flopped down  on the bed. "This sucks. We shouldn't have left."

"You didn't have to come with me," Light pointed out, as if he wasn't completely using her for her money.

Misa sighed and refused to talk for the rest of the day.

The next morning he woke up early, not knowing when he'd be picked up. "Light?" Misa asked him. "Are you leaving already?" 

"To be honest, I don't know. Someone's going to pick me up," He said. "They never said when. But I don't think you should be here when they come - why don't you start packing up and go out to town for a bit? I'll text you once I've left, so you can go to Ryuzaki's."

"Okay Light," she said, garnishing the words with a kiss on the cheek. Soon she was gone, and Light was left alone with only his anxiety to accompany him. It was another two hours - ten in the morning - when the hotel room phone rang.

"Hello?" He ventured when no one spoke after he picked it up.

"This is Light Yoshida, correct?" They asked.

“Yes," he confirmed.

"Please go down to the hotel lobby with anything you wish to bring with you."

It suddenly hit Light how potentially dangerous this was - he was about to leave with some stranger that he just knew of because of a number he happened to call? But it was too late now, so he complied and texted Misa, telling her that he was leaving and to go to Ryuzaki in an hour.

The lobby was fairly empty, except for one man sitting by the window. He didn’t look all that out of the ordinary, but when he caught Light’s eye, he nodded and walked out the door. Light followed.

“Hello, Light. I am Roger,” the man said in English when they stepped outside. He looked fairly old, with gray hair and wrinkled skin, but not close to dying old.

“Hello, Roger. I take it you were the one who talked to me on the phone?”

“Yes. I’m sure you’re very curious, so please get in the car." Roger gestured toward a plain blue car that they had wandered toward.

Light looked it over, but decided he would look pretty stupid if he decided to run off now, so he crawled in. Roger got in too - Light realized that there was already someone else sitting in the driver's seat. It was a bit freaky, and, not for the first time, he wondered if he would be abducted, but cleared his head of those kinds of thoughts. They wouldn't do him any good right now.

"So, I'm guessing you want to know more about the school, correct?" Roger asked once they were situated in the back seat.

Light nodded.

"This orphanage is not simply a school for gifted children - they are geniuses, being raised to..." Roger trailed off. "Well, I can't tell you our exact objective quite yet. I'm sorry, but as you may have noticed, we don't exactly hand out information for free."

Light nodded in understanding. "And, ah, what position will I be teaching?" He asked.

"Our school does not need teachers for any specific subject,"Roger said. "Instead, you will be a tutor, per say. If we need you to fill in a spot that has become open, we will let you know, but for now, you will simply be helping to teach the students, and even participate in classes yourself if we find you to be lacking in any area," Roger explained. "Oh, and I almost forgot: I need you to take a test, to confirm that you are indeed as smart as we need you to be, although I have complete confidence in you. No ordinary person could have completed that puzzle."

"Okay," Light agreed. "When would you like be to take it?"

"There's no rush; it can wait until we get back to the school. I hope you're ready for a long trip though, as the orphanage is in England."

Light was not ready for a long trip, and especially not ready to go on a plane again, as he found out would be the case.

"Well, what were you expecting?" Roger asked upon seeing the look on Light's face.

"Nothing," He sighed.

The plane ride was terrible. He didn't throw up like he had when he and Misa had come to Germany and he managed to distract himself during takeoff and landing, and he even had a pretty entertaining conversation with Roger, but it was still terrible.

Following their landing was an hour long car ride. When Light looked up, he was met with the sight of a beautiful large brick building surrounded by a large field of grass. The grounds appeared to be immaculately maintained, and some kids were playing out by the side of the building. Off in the distance was an old white church, and several smaller buildings dotted the grounds.

“It’s very nice,” Light finally said. It wasn't a lie; the place was gorgeous.

"Thank you," Roger replied. "Now, I hate to rush you, but this test does take quite some time, so we should probably get going."

Light doubted it would take him all that long, but he didn't mention it. Besides, he was getting cold, so he followed without complaint.

The inside of the school was just as nice as the outside. There was a large cafeteria, which was pretty plain, but still elegant. Further on, he was shown a section of the house that had dorm rooms, though they turned out to be small, and only held two people at most. Roger explained that the kids preferred to be alone, and as there was no shortage of space, the school indulged them.

Another portion of the school was dedicated to classrooms, though they, too, were quite small. Apparently it was a much smaller establishment than Light had previously thought - he had vastly underestimated how selective the school was. Only the brightest were brought here, and as a result, classrooms fewer than ten students were not uncommon.

He was then shown his office, along with Roger's. "Since you're not an official teacher, you don't have a classroom. But students will be encouraged to go to you for help." He had a room as well, in the same section as the student dorms, but one of the beds and dressers had been removed to give it a semblance of officialty.

Once he was properly situated, Roger led him back to his office and sat him down at a desk. "Like I said, this will take you some time. It's quite a difficult test, so don't feel pressured to be quick about it."

As if. Light was completely confident that he could finish it in less than an hour.

For once in his life, he was wrong, and it was the most frustrating thing in the world. By the time he realized it had been 58 minutes and he was still barely halfway done, he realized there was no hope of finishing in that time frame.

He knew most of it - many of the questions were just facts and knowledge he had learned in school, along with some stuff he was sure he had not learned in school, but knew anyway because he was just that good. No, those questions were no problem. The problem was the unusually large amount of logic problems and questions that he had to think about - pretend murder cases and games of "who ate the last piece of cake?" Except with much less clues that he normally would have been given.

He enjoyed these kinds of problems, really. It was nice to be challenged, and, as a plus, he enjoyed the admiration his amazing thinking skill brought. Maybe that was it - he was expected to know this stuff, it wasn't just a bonus question on a test. Being able to figure out this stuff wouldn't put him ahead, since he was obviously already supposed to be able to - it would just mean he wasn't stupid.

It was with great humiliation that he finished his test after a whole two and a half hours that he stood up and brought the packet to Roger.

Roger looked up from the book he was reading. "I'm sorry, but whatever you're stuck on, I can't help you. This is simply to assess your thinking skills; if you don't know one, then that's perfectly fine."

"I'm done," Light said flatly.

Roger didn't seem to register what he had said at first; his head had drifted back down and brought his attention back to his book, before it snapped up again. "I'm sorry, what?"

"I'm finished," he repeated.

Roger was silent for a moment, before - "Are you sure? Make sure you checked your answers, I would like to get an accurate idea of how smart you are."

"I've already checked my answers, and I'm sure I've answered everything to the best of my knowledge," Light said.

Roger was looking at him now as if reconsidering whether Light was fit to be here, and the look was giving Light a smug sense of satisfaction, his confidence coming back at the familiar feeling of some adult's disbelief at how smart he was.

"Well, if you're sure," Roger said. "Feel free to go back to your room, I'm sure you’re plenty tired from our trip today."

Light did just that, suddenly realizing that he was very tired. That test must have been much more draining than he thought. He was just drifting off to a light nap when there was a knock on his door, which he opened up to reveal a kid looked like a toddler who had gone through a several foot growth spurt.

"You're the new teacher, aren't you?" He asked without introduction.

"I guess," Light replied uneasily. The kid was, frankly, creepy - somehow, his round, youthful face and childish pajamas were more off putting than cute. "But I haven't started yet, so I don't have to help you with your homework.”

He was going to close the door - no use pretending to be sweet - but the kid jammed his foot in front of it. “I don’t need help. It’s Sunday; we didn’t have class today. I would like to meet you.”

“Well, now you’ve met me,” Light snapped. The kid, for some reason, freaked Light out much more than he should have. It was something about him that seemed to be able to see right through him... just like L. That was it; the kid was so similar to L, of course Light was freaked. out.

"No I haven't," the kid insisted. "Let me in."

Light continued to push against the door, crushing the kid's foot. He wasn't wearing shoes, Light noted. His foot must really hurt. Not wanting to get fired before he even started for hurting students, Light finally stopped pushing and let him through.

"I'm Near," the boy said, and sat himself down on Light's bed. "You're bed's not made, though from the clothes you're wearing, I'd say you value tidiness. You've been here... l'm guessing a bit less than an hour," Near said, almost to himself. "That is, you've been in this room for less than an hour. I saw you arrive several hours ago. You were taking the test, weren't you?"

Light nodded slowly. Who was this kid? It was simple logic, of course, and it wasn't Near's correct conclusions that threw him off, simply the way they were said. Though they were addressed toward him, it almost seemed like Near was talking to himself, making mental notes.

"I'm Light Yoshida," he finally said, deciding that, as creepy as Near was, he wasn't undeserving of social graces.

"It's nice to meet you," he said dully. "well, now that I've met you, I should be going. Mello will probably stop by, and I don't want to run into him."

"Who's Mello?" Light asked.

"Number two," Near replied, slipping out the door before Light could ask any more questions.

Light sincerely hoped that Near was wrong and Mello wouldn't be showing up, because he was tired and didn't want to deal with kids at the moment, but he was unlucky. He was in the middle of putting on his pajama pants when his door swung open without a knock.

"Hey!" Light exclaimed. "What are you doing?"

"I'm meeting the new teacher," said the kid who had barged into his room. "When Roger told us I was determined to find you first - tell me Near hasn't been here!"

Light smiled apologetically. "He has. He was here just a minute ago."

The boy - Mello, probably - snarled in anger. "Dammit!" He shouted.

Light laughed. “I didn’t realize there was a contest over me.”

“Don’t be stupid,” the blonde scolded. “Everything’s a contest. You’re not special.”

“Excuse me?” Light objected.

“Oh, I’m sorry - did I hurt your poor ego?” The kid taunted. Light decided that he disliked this one more than Near, who, while slightly off putting, at least wasn’t insulting him.

“I- nevermind. What do you mean ‘everything’s a contest?’” Light asked.

Mello looked him over speculatively. “Wow, you really don’t know anything, do you?”

Light clenched his fists. What was this kid’s deal? “I’ll have you know, I just got here three hours ago. Obviously I don’t know much - Near, at least, could figure that out,” he added.

Just as predicted, the mention of Near sent Mello into a fit of rage. “What do you mean he figured that out? We both saw you arrive - did the brat manage to convince you that he was actually smart by calculating how long you’d been here?”

“Oh, he told me he saw me arrive. That wasn’t surprising. But him managing to figure out almost exactly how long I spent taking the test and how long I was in here-” Light was cut off in his praising of Near.

“Wait - what do you mean he figured out how long you had taken the test?”

“Oh yes,” Light said enthusiastically. “Why, he must be on of the smartest kids I’ve ever met!”

“No, not that!” Mello hissed. “You’ve only been here for three hours! You can’t have taken the test!”

“I very much have,” Light countered.

“You’re bluffing.”

“I have,” Light insisted, “And I swear, it was the easiest test I’ve ever taken. Was that supposed to challenge me?”

Mello stomped his foot. “You can’t have finished the test in that amount of time! He wrote it himself!”

Light was going to ask what he meant and who “he” was, but the door had already been slammed shut, and Mello was gone.

Well, tomorrow he would ask someone.


	12. Chapter 12

The next morning all Light wanted to do was lay in bed and sleep. He was in a room of his own, which was thousands of times better than sharing a room with Misa, even if his room didn’t have luxury sheets and room service and a coffee maker. Yep. Still better.

And Misa! She was, for all intents and purposes, gone! Sure, he still had to keep in contact with her, but, if he so wished (and he did) he would never have to see her again. No Misa, no L... everything was perfect.

Mostly.

Well, after spending four months with someone literally 24/7, you were bound to miss them once you were separated. Just a little bit.

He couldn’t lay in bed and wallow in despair, though, as he had been planning to, because someone was knocking on his door. He pulled himself up and staggered over to answer it, taking a moment to blink the sleep out of his eyes and straighten out his hair before pulling the door open.

It was Roger, holding a packet of papers in his hand. “Light, I’m sorry for waking you up. I realize it’s early in the morning, but I would like to discuss your test scores.”

“Of course,” Light agreed, a smug grin forming at the knowledge that he had of course done so unbelievably well that Roger needed to discuss it. “Your office?”

Roger nodded, and led the way across the school, which Light was grateful for. The place seemed to have more hallways than rooms, and it would have been embarrassing to get lost.

“Light, I’m not sure what to say, actually. These test scores are unbelievable.”

Light smiled in fake modesty. He was aware, of course. “I try my hardest.”

Roger laid out the packet over his test, and Light leaned over to take a look, expecting to see a “100%” on the front cover. But he didn’t. Instead there was a red slash going through the first question. Okay, okay... Missing one question was okay. He had missed one question on multiple occasions; once he had had an unbearably strict teacher who was determined to fail him. She hadn’t succeeded, but she had managed to mark him wrong on a question every once in a while.

“On the first page, you only missed one question!” Roger turned the page. “And on the second, you only missed-” two. They were only two pages in and he had missed three questions. Oh god, this was terrible! Roger went on, oblivious to Light’s falling mood as, on nearly every page, there had been an error made. Never more than two, but by the end it put him at 80%.

“This is really remarkable, Light! I know you’ll be a valuable addition to our staff!”

“I think there’s been a mistake,” Light interrupted.

“I’m sorry - what do you mean?”

“I mean, I got a 80 percent,” Light explained, but already he could tell that Roger wouldn’t understand. He was Light Yagami, he never, ever got anything less than perfect! 80% was not... acceptable.

“And that’s amazing! Unheard of!” Roger enthused. “In face, the only person to match that score in so little time is...”

“Yes?” Light propted.

“Ah... never mind.”

What was with the people here? he wasn't stupid; he had known they had been withholding information from him since he got here. but really, must they be so obvious about it? With the secretive nature of the school, he hadn't expected them to trust him immediately with whatever secret information they had, but even the students weren't telling him things!

He let it drop, though, knowing that he wouldn't get an answer, and instead asked another question that had been on his mind. "Yesterday, one of the students - Near - came by my room, and he mentioned something about another student, Mello, being number two."

Roger still looked a bit uneasy, fingers twisting together and eyes darting around, but he answered. "Our school is very competitive. The students are all striving toward one goal - and don't ask me what it is!" Roger warned when Light opened his mouth to ask exactly that. "They are ranked by how well they perform in school, and Mello is second best at the moment. Near is number one."

"I suppose that's why Mello told me that everything's a competition here then," Light mused.

"Not exactly. That's less of a school policy than a personal issue between Near and Mello. While everyone else is, of course, working toward this goal, Near and Mello have retained their places for so long that, especially on Mello's behalf, they don't like each other much."

Light nodded in understanding. Well, a bit of a rivalry was a lot better than your only equal accusing you of being a mass murderer. "So I assume I'll be working today?"

"Yes," Roger confirmed, and handed him a piece of paper. "This is the schedule, but don't be surprised if students come to you when they're supposed to be in class. They operate on their own schedules."

Light frowned in distaste. Rules were there to be followed! Sure, some of them were a bit stupid, and maybe, just maybe, he had skipped cram school once or twice... Well, probably just once. But that wasn’t the point! His rule following was the reason he was so smart! How could a school for geniuses endorse skipping class? He shook his head. Whatever.

"I assume you want me to stay in my office all day, in case a student needs help then?"

"If you want to," Roger said. "The students are gifted; they'll be able to find you wherever you go."

He laughed a little inside. L would definitely appreciate the help of some of these kids. Taking what Roger said as the go ahead to do whatever he wanted until he was needed, Light spent the day cleaning his room, which, after what was probably years of disuse, was covered with dust and did not feel at all like home. He doubted he could make it feel like home no matter what he did, but he could try, and the first step was to make it livable.

He was just getting around to taking the sheets off his bed for washing when someone knocked on his door. He didn't expect it to be a student, because according to Roger they should have been in class, but apparently what he had said about the students operating on their own schedules had been true.

"Hello Near."

"Hello Light." It irked Light that he wasn't given a proper title, but then again, he was pretty sure "Mr. Yoshida" was a brand of steak sauce, and "Professor Yoshida"... actually, professor was a good title, he decided, undermined only by the fact that he was not a professor, simply a tutor.

"Do you need something?" He hoped not; he really didn't want to help out some creepy preteen with their biology homework (nevermind that that was his job).

"No," Near replied. "I simply wanted to talk."

Ugh. This was even worse! "I guess that's acceptable," he said reluctantly. "But I'm not helping you get over any emotional problems or anything. I'm not a counselor."

Near shook his head. "That's not what I'm here for. I would just like to talk. Though you seem to not like me, I think you have the potential to be a friend of mine."

The words jarred Light, because L had said something similar to him once as well - "Light is my first and only friend." In a way, Light thought of L in a similar way - but not, because Light had friends. They weren't even fake friends, that he kept for appearances; he really did appreciate them, even if they could be a bit dull sometimes. No, his friendship with L... he didn't care to give it an official tittle, because that would require thinking about it, and feelings were not something he liked to contemplate.

Near though... he was annoying, as all kids were, but Light decided that he could easily be a friend of Light's as well. "I agree," he said.”

Light settled on the floor, which was dirty and uncomfortable, but Near was sitting on the bed and it would have felt weird to sit directly next to the boy. "... nice weather we're having," Near finally said.

The ridiculousness of the situation struck Light and he found himself laughing. He was running from L because he was afraid he could somehow be a mass murderer without knowing it, and he was planning on breaking up with his supermodel girlfriend in a dick move to surpass all dickmoves, and now he was a teacher at a school whose location he didn't even exactly know even though he hated kids.

"Are you okay?" Near inquired dully, though he didn't seem perturbed by the display.

"Yeah," Light sighed. "I've been through some weird stuff in the last few days."

"That's fairly common among our teachers," Near mused. "You're not out of place.”

Light raised an eyebrow in question.

“Most people aren’t willing to jump into a situation like this with so little information, unless they’re desperate,” Near explained. “I’m sure you’ve noticed that there are things people haven’t been telling you.”

Light nodded. “Yeah, I have. I don’t suppose you’ll tell me?”

Near shook his head with a little smile; Light reflected that he looked a bit like a goblin. This kid was a lot like L in every way, minus the hair and eye bags, which was good. He didn’t need to be sleep deprived at such a young age.

Light had to wonder if he was maybe some long-lost brother or (ew!) son of L. But the latter, thankfully, was pretty unlikely. L seemed far too young to have a son, and besides, who would want to have sex with him? Well, apart from (possibly) Light... Well, okay, it wasn’t entirely impossible, but Light opted not to consider it.

“Figures,” he sighed. “So, do you kids have training to withhold information from newcomers or something?”

“You could say that,” Near replied, now playing with an action figure that Light hadn’t seen him come in with. "A lot of the things we're not telling you though... most of the students don't know either."

"But you do?"

"Yes," Near confirmed. "Being number one at this school comes with certain... benefits."

Light hummed in thought. "And would those benefits extend to not getting in trouble for telling me all your secrets?"

"Don't worry," Near said with that same grin. "You're extremely intelligent. I'm sure you'll rise up in rank soon enough, you just have to be patient."

"How do you know how smart I am?" He challenged.

Near shrugged. "Are you saying I'm wrong? Besides, I eavesdropped on you and Roger's conversation. I suppose a good test score doesn't necessarily mean your smart - for all I know, you could have failed all the actually important questions and gotten all of the filler ones, but are you really going to refuse a compliment of your intelligence?"

Light didn't have a reply to that, and Near seemed to know because he went back to playing with his action figure. Sensing that the conversation had come to a halt, Light resumed cleaning the room.

"So is anyone actually going to come to me for help?" Light asked after a while.

"No, probably not," Near replied. "Many of us are too proud to ask for help, but Roger likes to hire them anyway, for when of the other teachers to quit or die. Some people like to collect coins; Roger likes to collect geniuses. And bugs," Near added. "Actually, it's not usually Roger that does the genius collecting, but as Mr. Whammy is gone for the moment, it's up to Roger."

"Who's Mr. Whammy?" Light asked.

Near shook his head. "Oh no. I've said too much," Near said in a tone that suggested that it had not been accident at all.

Light laughed, realizing that he was actually quite enjoying himself with the strange boy. "Well, I guess I'll just have to figure this out on my own."

The rest of the day passed in companionable silence, interrupted only once after, according to Light's schedule, class had just ended.

Mello barged into the room, unknowing that there was another occupant. “Hey, what’s-your-name, I need-” He faltered upon seeing Near.

“What’s he doing here!” Mello demanded.

"What are you doing here?" Near asked in turn.

"I'm - I came here to get to know the new teacher, obviously," Mello stuttered, cheeks flushed in embarrassment.

"Really. I was under the impression that you came here for help with your school work," Near observed.

"What - of course not! Are you?"

"Maybe," Near said. "If you are Mello, it's really nothing to be ashamed of. He's here for a reason. Maybe the fact that I'm not too proud to ask for help has something to do with why I'm number one."

Mello opened and closed his mouth wordlessly, finally clamping it down and glaring. "Whatever. I'll come back later."

"Oh, no need. I should leave no anyway." Near stood up and brushed past Mello, who was still standing in the doorway with his arms crossed.

"Well, are you coming in or not?" Light prompted, clearing off his desk and chair so he could sit down.

"I - I don't need help, you know," Mello denied, despite the packet of paper he was clutching against his chest.

"Of course you don't," Light agreed. "You just happened to bring it with you on your way to have a friendly chat with the school tutor."

"Don't mock me! I was just getting back from class, and your room was on the way back to mine," he claimed.

"I wouldn't dream of it," Light drawled. Despite this, he plucked the packet from Mello's protective hold on his way across the room so he could sit on the bed.

"So, since you seem to be a lot more responsive than Near, maybe you could tell me about when we eat around here?" Mello's eyes lit up with the favorable comparison to Near. Light knew where the kitchen was, so he could eat whenever he wanted, but there had to be an official time set aside for meals, and he didn't want to be seen as reclusive.

"Oh, right. Well, breakfast is set out from six in the morning to when class starts. Lunch is from eleven to noon, and dinner is at six."

Light hummed in acknowledgment, and began to flip through Mello's homework. "So this is your homework tonight?" He asked.

"Yeah... but I don't need help!" Mello protested.

"Okay, whatever you say..." Light trailed up. This was no normal homework - even for  a school for gifted children, he wouldn't have expected anything this hard! This would be a challenge for even him!

Yes, this school was certainly different. He had begun to realize it upon taking the test yesterday; though it did ask a lot about general knowledge kinds of things, there were several questions that just... weren't right. Like the one that had, in graphic detail, described a murder case, and asked him to determine the culprit.

It was apparent that this homework was for anatomy; he recognized the diagram as the exact same one that had once appeared in his anatomy homework. But the questions didn't ask, "Locate the -insert body part here- and explain its purpose." No, the first question on the first page was, "Determine how you could tell the difference between a natural heart attack and a faked one."

The mature theme carried on throughout the rest of the packet, and while the questioned covered as much as was normally covered in a typical high school anatomy class, the questions... were not as typical, to say the least.

"Hey, when you're done salivating over my homework, I need to go," Mello said, interrupting his thoughts.

"Oh, right," Light said quickly and handed it back.

This school was something else, and Light was determined to be a part of it. It was a school for geniuses, after all, and though he was in college, he was sure that if he could get in on this education, it would serve him far better.

Before dinner, he went down to Roger's office.

"Come in," Roger called at the knock on the door.

"Good evening, Roger," Light greeted.

"Oh - hello, Light," the man replied. "How are you doing on your second day here?"

"I'm doing fine, thank you. I'm enjoying the school very much. In fact," Light added. "I have a request to make involving the part I play here."

Roger looked at him, brow furrowed. "Go on," he said eventually.

"Well... I'd like to start out by saying that I'm not a modest person, and I am well aware that I'm quite smart." At these words, Roger's entire form seemed to wilt. He was probably expecting Light to demand some kind of ridiculous pay.  Well, luckily for him, that wasn’t what Light was planning. "That being said, I'm only eighteen, and before I came here I had not yet had a chance to complete my education. I'd like to take part in classes, if that's alright."

Roger raised his eyebrows. "Well, Light, I must say, that's a request I haven't yet heard. However... I'll see what I can do. In the meantime, we should get going to dinner. I'd like to officially introduce you to the staff and students."

Light grinned. Victory!


	13. Chapter 13

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter is one of my favorites - enjoy! ^_^

L was furious. Light had run away and left him to take care of his girlfriend, which would be okay because he was actually fairly fond of the girlfriend in question. But unlike last time, Misa didn't even know where he had gone! Apparently Light didn't even tell her where he was going, simply told Misa to come to him after he left so that he would be free of her. After the first night of her trying crawl into his bed, he was also beginning to suspect that he had told her to try to get "close" to him. What an ass.

He had truly left no clues, either. L had, of course, gone through their hotel room looking for clues, but there was nothing! Absolutely nothing. According to Misa, Light didn't even know where he was going, or so he had said. L was disinclined to believe him, as he didn't seem like the type of person to jump into these things without plans, but then again, he had run away from Japan at the slightest sign of danger.

On second thought, Light was obviously freaked out from his loss of memory; it didn't seem completely impossible that he would be desperate to run off with some strangers in his panic. The real puzzle was what kind of organization was good enough to steal Light away and not leave any clues? It was troubling.

"Oh Ry-u-za-ki," He heard Misa call from somewhere across their (his) hotel room.

He regretfully got up from where he was sitting at his computer and walked in the direction of the voice. It was with little surprise that he found Misa sprawled out on his little-used bed wearing what was probably the pajamas that only a few days ago she had claimed, "Only Light's allowed to see me in this!" Obviously, she had had a change of heart.

"Hello Misa," He said dully. "Do you need something?"

"Only you," She simpered. Yes, obviously Light had put her up to something.

"Misa, whatever Light has told you about my interest in you, it is not true."

"Don't be silly!" She giggled. "You're obviously in love with me!"

"Wherever did you get that idea?" He asked.

"From Lig... oh." She seemed to come to her senses as the pieces came together, and her false expression (which was probably supposed to look seductive) dropped from her face. "But Light said you would totally fall for me!"

Ryuzaki shook his head. "What, did he think I would drop my suspicion of you if you draped yourself over me and pecked me on the lips?"

Misa giggled. "I was thinking I would do more than peck you on the lips." L shuddered in disgust - at Light, not Misa. Misa was pretty and he wasn’t ashamed to admit it. But Light - what an ass! He was whoring out his girlfriend for his own freedom. That was definitely something Kira would do.

“Obviously he’s left you with me as some poor practical joke.” Not that it wasn’t amusing, but frankly, L would much rather have Light sprawled out on his bed instead of Misa.

“No he didn’t!” Misa cried. "Light has a plan, and he told me that I'm very important in it."

"Really?" L asked. "Do tell."

Misa sat up and crossed her arms. "No. You've been neglectful of me for the last three days, what makes you think I'm going to give Light away now?"

Well, damn. "You know, Misa," L began slyly. "Has anyone ever told you you're beautiful?'

"Obviously," she scoffed. "I'm a model. I know how cute I am. And I'm not as stupid as you think; I know you just want information."

"Misa, aren't I your friend? Friends tell each other secrets!" He pleaded.

Misa just smiled at him and shook her head, like he was a small child who she was denying a piece of candy. Hmm... candy. Yes, that seemed like a good idea to lift his spirits. He spent the rest of the afternoon crunching on suckers and thinking of how to go about finding out about Light's plan.

"Misa?" He asked tentatively. She now had her own hotel room, though he was beginning to suspect that Light's plan was to use her as a spy, because he had noticed her poking around his work area several times in the last few days. "What would it take me for you to tell me Light's plan?"

"Aren't you supposed to be some sort of super-genius, like Light?" She asked. "You should be able to figure it out on your own. Besides, I don't even know most of it." She turned her attention back to her phone, on which she was typing something.

"Well, I've already figured that you're supposed to be his informant. By the way, what are you doing?" He asked.

"Texting Light," she replied, eyes not flicking up once from the screen.

L stood there in shock. "You're texting Light?" He finally asked. "Let me see that!"

"Hey!" She shouted as he made a grab for her phone. "This is a private conversation! You can't see it!"

"Yes I can!" He insisted. 'I'm L; I can do what I want,' He added in his head. But apparently not when it came to a certain bratty supermodel that Light had dumped on him.

"Go away! I want to talk to my boyfriend in private!"

"You two don't get privacy around me! You're suspects!"

"No we're not. We have every right to privacy as anyone else. Now go away!"

"Let me talk to Light, at least?" He implored.

Misa rolled her eyes. "Fine, just don't read our conversation!" She warned before tossing the phone at him and stomping out of the room.

Reading their conversation was the first thing L did, but it turned out to be terribly boring. It was, for the most part, "I miss you" on Misa's part and varying degrees of sympathy on Light's. The only  interesting part was when Light asked Misa if L had any idea where he was yet, to which Misa told him he hadn't. Well, that proved L's theory right at least.

"This is Ryuzaki," he sent. He wasn't really sure why he was trying to make contact with Light. He was too smart to slip and accidentally give away his whereabouts, and probably wouldn't even reply, but L found that he was missing him so terribly that he couldn't pass up this chance.

The phone vibrated. "Why are you on Misa's phone?"

L smiled - though the message was bland, he could almost hear Light's scornful tone. "She gave it to me."

"I don't believe you."

"Well, it's true whether you believe me or not."

"Whatever. Before you try anything though, I'll have you know that I'm making sure you can't trace this number."

Strangely, it hadn't even crossed his mind that he should be doing that, though L now felt compelled to try it out anyway; the desire to see Light in the flesh was suddenly overwhelming.

"I wouldn't dream of it. I'm going to give Misa her phone back now."

"That makes me even more sure you stole it."

"Goodnight, Light. I'm sure I'll see you soon," L sent.

Before he had left the room, the phone vibrated again. "I'm sure you will."

The words inspired an odd mix of emotions in L; regret that next time they saw each other would probably be L arresting him, and joy at the idea of seeing Light soon being the predominant emotions. He passed Misa's phone back to her, and tried not to think too deeply about it.

He failed.

Light was Kira. That was the unavoidable truth, and Kira had to be punished. He was reminded of Misa’s words - “Friends don’t arrest friends for being Kira!” Light was his friend, but Light was also Kira, but friends don’t arrest friends for being Kira.

L sat down in his chair and curled up tighter than ever. He needed the extra thinking power that the position would grant him, not to mention that he suddenly found himself to be eerily cold. He considered turning up the heat, but the thermostat was all the way across the room, and that was just... such a long way to walk.

His head drooped forward, his neck becoming too tired to hold itself up. That was okay, he could still think like this.

Why had he advised Light to run away if he was just going to miss him this badly? Right, he didn’t want to arrest Light as Kira. But then, if he truly didn’t want that, then he would never be able to see Light again! That was unacceptable!

If not for his decision to test the thirteen day rule, Light could be free from suspicion and L could let him go free, but now it was too late. They were nine days into the test; in four days L would have to start investigating Light again. The thought didn’t cheer him up.

But the killings were no longer happening - did he really have to? Sure, it would be completely out of character for him to just declare Light innocent, but what could anyone do about that? Nothing, that was what.

Elated with his conclusion, L hopped out of his chair, no longer feeling the strange fatigue or coldness or burning behind his eyes. He strolled down to Misa’s room and swung the door open.

“Ryuzaki!” She scolded. “What are you doing in here? I could have been naked!”

“If you’re naked then you should be in your bedroom, not the kitchen,” L replied.

“This is my hotel room, I can be naked wherever I want! What are you even doing in here?” She asked.

“I need to borrow your phone.”

“You just borrowed it!” She whined. “I want to talk to my Light!”

“So do I.” Instead of waiting for Misa to give him her phone, he hopped to the other side of her so that he was behind her, and plucked it from her back pocket.

“Hey! Give that back!”

“No.” L scrolled through her contacts until he found someone named “The Light of My Life.” Yes, that was probably him.

L ignored Misa’s shrieking in favor in holding it up to his ear and listening for: “Misa, why are you calling me?”

“This is not Misa,” L said. “This is Ryuzaki.”

“You really can’t get enough of me, can you?” Light asked smugly.

“I suppose not. But I haven't called to chat, I want to tell you that I've dropped my suspicion of you."

Light was silent on the other end. He was probably elated, or shocked into silence, until- "Ryuzaki, you were supposed to have done that over a week ago."

He wasn't grateful? L couldn't help but feel a little bit hurt. "The killings have  stopped," he explained.

"The killings stopped when we caught Higuche," Light replied. "If that's all you have to tell me, then I'll be going. I have things to do."

"Wait!" L exclaimed.

"Yes?"

L paused. He didn't really have anything to say. "Well, you're at no risk anymore. Aren't you going to come home?"

"Of course not. I know you, Ryuzaki, and this is definitely a trick. Nice try, but I have to go." The call ended, signaling that Light had hung up.

"Ryuzaki, you're giving up your suspicions of us?" Misa asked.

L nodded his head and dropped the phone, ignoring Misa's protests that it was expensive and he couldn't just throw things around like that. Light wasn't going to come back? Surely he didn't like his current conditions - he was away from home, probably in some dingy hotel with the strangers that had picked him up! He was probably bored out of his mind; he couldn't have been truthful about having "work" to do!

L slumped back to his room.

"Ryuzaki? Are you okay?" Watari asked as L passed him.

"Yes, I am... please set up a video call with Soichiro Yagami. I will be back here in a moment," Drawled L.

"Of course, sir."

L slumped in front of his computer, for once not curled up in his unique way. His computer showed Soichiro Yagami sitting in the main work room of the task force headquarters.

"Ryuzaki! How is my son?" The man asked. He looked a lot better than the last time L had talked to him. He remembered promising to keep an eye on Light or something. Oops.

"Hello, Mr. Yagami. Your son is well. I have some news," L replied.

"Really? Well, go on." Soichiro was practically bouncing; L doubted he had ever seen the man so excited. He pushed away the guilt he felt knowing how unhappy the news would make him. After all, it wasn’t his fault Light had run away!... Other than the fact that he had advised Light to do it.

“... well, Light has run away.”

The man’s almost smile faded away. "I'm sorry, what?"

"On a better note, I have released my suspicion of him," L continued.

The response was similar to Light's. Like father, like son, L supposed. "Ryuzaki, you've already said he's no longer under suspicion!"

L was really getting tired of repeating the same response to this accusation, so he decided to divert the topic of conversation. "I will try my best to find him again. Have a nice day, Mr. Yagami."

Soichiro held out his hand toward the screen as though it would stop L from hanging up, but it didn't. He closed the lid of his computer and rolled his chair over to the mini fridge on the other side of his desk. He would need... at least two slices of cheesecake to help him think this through.

How was he going to find Light? Remarkably, he didn't have even an inkling to where he had gone. There were no clues left. Unheard of - there were always clues! This feat was nothing unexpected of Light though. L felt something akin to pride. Still, the problem remained that he had to find Light.

Misa could help him. If she could just get Light to tell her where he was... yes, that would work. She was a convincing actress; if anyone could do it, she could.

When he brought the request, she just rolled her eyes and flopped down on her bed. "Ryuzaki, you're really creepy, you know that?"

"I fail to see how that has anything to do with the current situation."

"Light said he doesn't want you to find him; can't you just leave him alone?” Misa sighed. "We're free of suspicion. You have no reason to be chasing him like this anymore."

“But Light is my friend!" And he was sure Light considered L his friend, too! Surely he would want L to find him? “And he’s not under suspicion anymore; doesn’t he want to come back home?”

"I guess not Besides, do you really think he believes you? I don’t even believe you,” Misa shrugged. “I’m sure he’ll eventually come back so we can be together again, but unless he wants to see you, I’m not telling you where he is.”

Light... Didn’t want to see him? The idea was impossible, did not compute, but if that was what he really wanted... "Misa, kindly pack your bags. We're going back to Japan tomorrow morning."


	14. Chapter 14

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ahh sorry guys for the late update, I've been trying to update daily buttt I was busy today and forgot :/

Light had been at this school for only a few days, and he was in love with it. The students were annoying, yes, and Mello still go on his nerves, but overall he felt blessed to experience it. The classes, especially, were like nothing he had ever experienced. In fact, most of his time was spent doing classwork, because, as Near had predicted, no one actually came to him for help, despite Roger's announcement on his second day that he was a valuable resource that they were free to use.

He also spent a lot of time with Near. It was kind of weird to have a twelve year old as his sort of best friend, but Near was quirky and intelligent, and didn’t make Light entertain him by talking about cartoons or fantasy books or whatever it was that kids talked about - the kid could hold his own in conversation. The only person more engaging to Light was L, but, curiously enough, he hadn't heard from him since L made that ridiculous claim that he he had dropped Light's Kira suspicion. As if.

He hadn't heard from Misa either, which was weird. He took a break from the homework he was working on to text her. He, of course, didn't expect L to ever find him. Wherever this school got its funds from, it definitely was enough to cover his tracks. Still, Misa normally would be determined to help Light by giving him the information he had instructed her to collect, and he found it odd that she hadn't communicated with him at all.

A few minutes later, she replied: -Hi Light! I miss you! <3 <3 <3-

-Hi Misa. Do you know if Ryuzaki has made any progress in finding me?-

-Don't be silly, he already said he had dropped his suspicion! He's not looking for you anymore!-

What? Did Misa honestly believe that bullshit? Obviously this conversation would require him to call her.

"Light! I've been dying to hear your voice!" Misa said as greeting. "But I didn't want to call you first because I figure you're busy running away from evil L, right!"

"Hi Misa," he sighed. "How are you?"

"Amazing, now that I get to talk to you!"

“I’m happy to hear from you too, but we need to talk. Misa, do you honestly believe that Ryuzaki has stopped looking for us?" Light asked.

"Well, I'm sure he's still trying to find you, but considering he brought me back to Japan-"

"Misa! He brought you back to Japan? Why didn't you tell me?" Light demanded.

"I mean, he's still here too, and he even lets me come into the investigation headquarters. I just didn't think it was important," Misa explained.

What? Ryuzaki was letting her hang around? "Why? I mean, why does he let you in the building?"

"Oh, well he's always trying to get me to call you for him. He's tried to call you from his phone, but apparently you have some sort of blocking system wherever you are because he can never get the call to go through."

It was sort of true - while he didn't block any numbers, Roger had encouraged him to only take calls from numbers he knew, and only from their phones, to avoid the school being found. He didn't have a problem with this, as the only person he had a reason to talk to was Misa. Several times, he had received calls from blocked numbers, but he of course rejected them, figuring they were spam or solicitors.

"Oh... okay."

"Do you want to talk to him?" Misa offered. "I can go over there right now, I bet Ryuzaki would actually smile! He's been acting all weird lately. Weirder than usual, at least; your dad says he doesn't even work on the case, he just sits around eating candy all day."

Did he want to talk to Ryuzaki? He didn't even have to think about it, of course! Life at the school had certainly been fun, but if he could talk to L... that would really complete the picture. He found himself to be inexplicably nervous at the prospect, though, not to mention tired, and decided, “No.” But he wanted to, definitely wanted to. "But tell him he's free to call me."

"I'll do that, Light! Oh, I'm so happy to talk to you! How have you been?"

"Actually, I have to go. I just called to check up on you, but I miss you! Goodbye," Light said quickly, and hung up before she could reply.

Had L really given up looking for him? The idea struck a sense of something akin to hopelessness in him. He was L's first and only friend! He wasn't supposed to give up on him! He supposed he should be elated, because this meant that L really had released his suspicion of Light... but Light would rather be suspected of being Kira than never see L again.

But Misa had also said that L was acting weird again. Maybe he was depressed again, because Light wasn't Kira? But there was no way he had actually stopped suspecting Light; it had to be a ploy to get Light to come back to Japan so that he could arrest him. But the thirteen day rule - oh god! Today was the last day of the test! Without thinking, he dialed his father's number. (He felt vaguely guilty for having never spoken to his father after leaving - oops.)

"Light?" Soichiro exclaimed when the phone stopped ringing.

"Hi dad."

"Light, what were you thinking, running away? Where are you?" He demanded, voice hoarse and panicked.

"I can't tell you," Light said. "I was - I’m sorry dad. I was scared that the results of testing the thirteen day rule would incriminate me.”

"But you're not! We just got the results a few minutes ago, the rule is real!"

"It is? That's amazing!" Light cheered. He tried not to feel too relieved, though, recalling L’s trick to have his father pretend to shoot him - this could still be a trap. Perhaps L thought that Light would believe it more if it came from his father’s mouth.

"So you can come back now, right?"

"..." Yeah, he could. As in, it would be possible, and there would be few repercussions. But did he want to? The school (Wammy's House, he had learned it was called) was amazing and challenging, even if he was just a teacher. "I... can," He said, tentatively.

Soichiro seemed to understand the implications of Light's hesitance. "Light, are you implying that you're not going to come home? You can’t just stay away - your mother and I have been so worried about you.”

"Dad, it's complicated. I'll consider it, but... I don't know. May I speak to Ryuzaki?"

Soichiro made a noise of annoyance. "Light, this is the first time we've talked in almost two weeks! You saw Ryuzaki just a few days ago!"

"I know, and I'm sorry for not calling earlier, but the case is over, right? This might be my last chance!" Light exclaimed, the realization dawning on him for the first time. L would probably be leaving Japan, and who knew when they'd see each other after that? "I promise I'll call you more, I'll even give you the number of the new phone I'm using, but I really need to talk to Ryuzaki!"

Soichiro sighed. "I understand. I'll see what I can do, but I don't know if he'll want to talk. He has been reclusive since returning.”

Light waited impatiently. He didn't even know what he wanted to say, but it had never even occurred to him that after this case, L would be leaving.

"Hello?" came a dull voice.

"Ryuzaki! It's me, Light!"

"I'm aware. Your father told me."

"You don't sound very excited to talk to me," Light observed. He felt considerably less enthusiastic upon actually hearing L's voice - had he done something?

L made a noncommittal noise.

"Well, I wanted to talk to you, since I figure after this you'll be leaving."

"I will miss you very much," L said, but Light couldn't help think he might be being sarcastic. The thought hurt, as he was being very sincere when he replied, "So will I."

...

"So, have you really given up your suspicion of me?" Light began.

"There's no need to rub it in that I was wrong," L muttered.

"I'm not. I just really can't believe it - I mean, even I was starting to believe that I was Kira!"

As expected, L jumped to the challenge. "Is that a confession?"

"It depends. Would you stay in Japan if you had reason to believe that Kira was still out there?" He teased. Light knew he was playing with fire, and that L wouldn't take his words in a playful light, and sure enough-

"No, I'd go out and find him," L answered, voice filled with absolute conviction.

"Interesting," Light commented. "But you haven’t had very much luck as of yet. I doubt you’ll be able to find Kira until he willingly drops a clue."

Neither of them spoke, Light giving time for the implications to reach L. He wanted L to look for him again, and was willing to hand out clues if it was necessary.

“Well, I’m sure Kira would slip up eventually. But I wonder whether it might not be a waste of time, considering Kira would simply run away once I found him again.”

“Oh, I’m sure he wouldn’t. He’ll probably be pretty comfortable by the time you find him; I doubt he’ll want to leave.”

Several seconds of silence followed this statement, broken by L. “How are you, Light?”

“Huh?”

“I am attempting to make small talk,” L explained. “How are you?”

Oh. So he was trying to extract the aforementioned clues. “I’m doing good. In fact I’ve gotten a job.”

“You already had a job,” L muttered.

“One I’m getting paid for, though. I’m really enjoying myself.”

“Oh? Whatever are you doing that you enjoy more than playing detective?” L asked.

“I’m a teacher,” Light said.

“A teacher? You didn’t seem like the type to enjoy babysitting kids.”

“It’s not a normal school,” Light said. “It’s a school for gifted kids - geniuses, really. They’re even letting me participate in the classes, since I didn’t get to finish at To-Oh.”

“Light, you do realize that you’re free to come home. The rule was real.” Light expected to hear either bitterness or relief, but instead, L’s voice is completely blank. “You can come back to finish your education.”

“I don’t know. I’ll think about it, but I’m really enjoying myself! These kids are really smart. I doubt there are many other places that would provide a higher education.” Light really hoped that L was taking notes, because this was the only clue he was going to get.

“Really,” L mused. “Please, go on. This is all very interesting.”

“Well, the kids are wonderful to be around. There’s one child, named Linda, who’s just amazing at art, and-”

Clunk.

“Ryuzaki? Are you alright? It sounded like you dropped the phone!”

“Yes, Light, I just... excuse me; I have to go take care of something.” He hung up before Light could say goodbye.

Huh. That was odd. While it wasn’t unusual for L to do things abruptly like that, he normally granted some respect to Light, at least. Whatever. L had every right to be an ass, as long as Light didn’t have to deal with it.

Though he was supposed to stay in his office so that students could come to him, Roger hadn’t been joking when he said that they would be able to find him anywhere. Though students didn’t come to him for help often, when they did, they were always able to find him, no matter where he went. The library, the kitchens, the church - it was as though they could smell him.

So, upon finishing his conversation, he found himself hiding out in Near’s room, guilt tripped into playing power rangers with him. “Near, why is everyone so good at finding me?” He asked.

Near looked up from where he was making two action figures beat each other up, and smiled. “It’s one of the objectives of the school, I guess.”

“Finding things? That seems like an oddly specific goal,” Light commented.

“Hmm... more like tracking. It’s helpful in the grand scheme of things.” The grand scheme of things being the school goal: to raise detectives. Though everyone was still being tight-lipped about it, once he started participating in classes it became fairly obvious to Light. Every class, no matter the subject, was tailored toward detective work, which almost too good to be true.

“I guess that makes sense. You know, I’m really glad I found this place.”

“Yes, you’re very lucky,” Near said. “Normally, if you wanted to come here your parents would have to be dead.”

“That’s pretty morbid, you know.”

Near shrugged. “Give the blue power ranger.”


	15. Chapter 15

L handed Soichiro’s phone back as though in a trance. Light was at Wammy’s! It all made sense, though; his flawless escape could only have been done by the house’s staff, and his phone had simply been untraceable. He was sure that without Light’s hints, he would never have found him.

So Light had really given him a hint? He wanted L to try to find him? Fine. Yes, this was fine, amazing really, but he wasn’t going to play into Light’s hands. Light would have to wait a little while.

“Watari,” he called, knowing that he would hear him from the security cameras. “I’ve decided that I’m ready to take on a new case. Please meet me in the main investigation room.”

“Ryuzaki, if you’re taking on a new case, does this mean that you’re officially putting an end to the Kira investigation?” Soichiro, who was still in the room with him, asked.

“Yes,” he replied, and turned around to look at him. It didn’t take long for L to figure out why the man looked so uncomfortable. “I realize that you and the rest of the taskforce all lost your jobs with the police, but I assure you that without the threat of Kira, I will be able to get them back.”

“Thank you, Ryuzaki. I have been worrying over that for some time.”

“Yes, I will take care of it later today. Please inform the rest of the team of this,” L said. Soichiro seemed to get the hint that this would be an ideal time for him to get out, and left L alone, just in time for Watari to stroll in with a tray full of sweets.

“Good morning, Ryuzaki,” he said. “You have found the conclusion to the case to be satisfactory, then?”

“No,” L replied, “But there’s really nothing I can do, and I’m getting bored of wasting my time with dead ends. I’d like to take up a new case.”

“You’re not going to look for Light, then?”

L smirked. “Actually, I’ve already found him, which is why we’re not going back to the orphanage.”

Watari stared at him for several moments until a look of understanding crossed his face. “Roger called me the other day, saying that he found another teacher, who was especially smart. This doesn’t have anything to do with that, does it?”

“It does, actually. I’d like to remain here for my next few cases until my next visit to the house, though.”

“Of course,” Watari agreed. “Would you like me to find you some potential cases? There’s been a string of murders in the US that may interest you.”

L sighed. Nothing would ever challenge him as much as Kira had, and the past year had spoiled him with constant mental stimulation. “Yes... that one will be fine.”

He had the case solved in a matter of three days. The building seemed empty, and for once, the loneliness bothered him. He supposed he was just used to the constant company of at least Light, and even after he had unlocked the handcuffs, he was almost always in the company of Soichiro or one of the other taskforce members. Now, with only him and Watari, he found that, oddly enough, he would have preferred to be around others.

He consoled himself with the thought that soon he’d be returning to Wammy’s house, where he’d get to see Light, who had become something familiar, and therefore a comfort measure. All he had to do was solve a few more cases and then...

He tried not to think about what, exactly, he’d do after he found Light, because he didn’t know. Originally, the chase was simply because Light was Kira, but he obviously couldn’t use that justification now. Light was his friend, though, and that was a reasonable motive, if not completely accurate.

He shook his head to clear it of those thoughts. He had just finished his third case, this one from Spain, and he needed to inform their police of his results. Was this enough to justify returning to the house? He had promised the kids that he would return once he caught Kira, and, as far as they knew, he had. Every day that he held out on returning he was punishing Near, Mello, and Matt just as much as he was teasing Light.

“Watari,” he said. “Have you been alerted of any new cases?”

Watari, who was standing next to him and cutting a large slice of cake, chuckled. It was odd, as the man was normally silent and didn’t voice his opinions. “There’s only so much crime in the world, especially after the rise of Kira.”

“Are you sure there’s nothing?” L pleaded.

“Not necessarily nothing, but you’ll tarnish your reputation as the world’s greatest detective if you start taking on minor cases.” Watari handed him a piece of cake, and L took the chance to catch his eye and give him his best kicked puppy look. Watari didn’t seem to be affected, but said, “A woman was killed in Ireland last week and the police have been having a hard time finding the culprit. Would you like to do that one?”

“Yes, please,” L mumbled around a spoonful of cheesecake. With any luck, he’d be able to solve this by midnight, and tomorrow he’d be on a plane headed toward Wammy’s house.

Watari sighed. “I don’t see why you’re in such a rush to finish so many jobs. You do realize after this you’ll have to go back to the orphanage? The kids will realize that you’re avoiding them if it looks like you’re loading up on trivial cases instead of coming back to visit.”

“I’m aware.”

“Weren’t you trying to stay away from there because Light’s there?”

“It’s been a week. I’ve avoided him for long enough.”

“If you say so. I’ll get you the files, then.”

“Thank you. And Watari, I’ll probably be done with this by later tonight, so we’ll be leaving tomorrow.”

Watari bowed his head. “That will work,” he agreed.

The case was easy, and the police doubtless could have solved it themselves given a few more days. By the next morning, he was more than ready to leave.

“Ryuzaki, why in the world are you in such a hurry?” Watari asked the next morning, trying to keep up with L who was practically sprinting towards the jet. “I hope you realize that we can’t leave until our pilot gets here.”

L paid him no heed and hopped up the steps that gave access to the aircraft.

He could have sworn it was the longest flight of his life. Well, actually, it might have been - a flight from Japan to England wasn't exactly short. But while he could normally pass his time thinking over cases, he simply couldn't focus now, the excitement making his attention span shorter, and so, he was left with nothing to do throughout the whole twelve hours. When the plane finally landed, he ignored Watari's instructions to grab a bag and ran to the door, waiting for Watari to come and set up the steps.

Watari looked at him disapprovingly. "You didn't grab anything," he observed.

"Neither did you," L retorted.

"I can't let you out carrying something. That's too much work for an old man to do. Grab a bag," Watari instructed.

L reluctantly grabbed the large bag that contained all his personal items. Normally, that was all he had, but this time they had equipment to unpack because of their prolonged stay.

They had landed on a private air strip only a short car ride away from the orphanage, so the next five minutes were spent unloading everything into one of Watari's black cars, driven here by Roger. Then, finally, they were driving, and Wammy's house was getting bigger and bigger until it was right in front of them and kids were already running toward the car. He got out, tolerating their hugs and demands for his attention, scanning the small crowd  for a head of brown hair paired with a fair face...

But Light wasn't in the crowd. He was disappointed, but, of course, he shouldn't have expected to. The chances of Light hanging out outside with a bunch of little kids was low; he was probably inside. Inside, then, was where L would have to go.

He made his way through the clump of kids toward the front doors of the building, but before the could reach them they swung open. Out walked a short child with white hair and plain pajamas - Near. And behind him - there he was!

Light looked up, and froze. He opened his mouth to say something, but Near yanked on his hand. “Come on, you have to meet Ryuzaki!” The boy whined in an uncharacteristically childish voice. He had always been fond of L, if a bit less obsessive than Mello. Speaking of Mello...

“Ryuzaki!” Cried the blonde, sprinting at an alarming pace toward him, and even as he approached Light and Near, he didn’t slow down. Near pulled Light away just in time for the boy to barrel into L’s chest. “Hi,” he said sheepishly.

“Hello, Mello,” L replied.

“Sorry,” Mello mumbled. “I was just excited.

In the background, hidden from L’s view by Mello’s hair, Light chuckled, earning a growl from Mello. Mello turned to him, demanding, “What? You’re laughing at me? Do you have any idea who this is?”

“No, I’ve no idea,” Light lied. “Please go on.”

Mello looked like he was about to, but then he shut his mouth. “I bet you’d like to know,” he muttered.

“That won’t be a problem,” Light assured him. “Actually, I already know Ryuzaki,” he bragged.

Both Mello and Near turned to him in shock. “You do?” Near asked.

“Yes, you do?” L repeated, just for the fun of it. “I don’t think I know you.”

Mello laughed. “You’re an idiot, Light, you know that? Did you honestly think you could pull that off?”

Light glared at L for making him look stupid, but instead of trying to argue, he shrugged. “Maybe you’re right,” he admitted.

L held out a hand to shake. “It’s nice to meet you, Light. I’m Ryuzaki, an assistant of Mr. Whammy.” Near, Mello, and Matt were the only ones who had figured out who he actually was, although it wasn’t unlikely that if anyone else had found out, they had kept quiet about it.

“Hmm, I’ve heard quite a bit about Mr. Whammy,” Light commented, accepting his handshake. “Though Near’s been pretty tight-lipped about it. Will I get to meet him, do you think?” Light asked, smirking at L in challenge. Too late L realized that it probably wasn’t good for his Kira suspect to know even Watari’s last name. But there was no sense in making the kids stop referring to the head of the school by the name they had grown up saying at this point.

“I’m sure you will,” L mumbled. “If you’ll excuse me, I need to get settled in.”

“Ryuzaki, don’t take too long! Last time you said that it was the last time we saw you until your next visit!” Mello whined.

L nodded absentmindedly as he pushed past the three and made his way up the stairs into the attic room, which he, for the most part, lived in. It was obvious now that his had been uninhabited for months though, from the dust gathering in every available spot to the bed, which was made for once. Though he didn’t sleep often, he enjoyed working on it, and the sheets often became rustled and twisted until it was impossible to tell that it had started off that morning crisp and clean.

That was the first place he headed, flinging himself down to lie face down in snow angel position. A heap of dust drifted up and the springs creaked, but despite the sad sight, he couldn’t say he wasn’t glad to be home.

Five minutes later he felt another weight next to him.

“How did you find me so quickly?” L asked. “I’m sure I didn’t hear you following me.”

“The door to the stairs was open. You didn’t make yourself hard to trace.”

“Oh.” There was a moment of silence. “You know,” L mused. “You shouldn’t be up here. None of the students are allowed in here, not even Mello or Near.”

“Well then, it’s a good thing I’m not a student,” Light replied.

“The only teacher allowed up here is Watari,” L added.

“I’m not exactly a teacher, either.”

L smiled into his bed. Fine. Light could stay. If he absolutely had to. Because L was generous.

L heard footsteps coming up the stairs after a long stretch of time just laying with Light. “Ryuzaki, the children are asking where you are,” The older man said when he reached the room. “And may I ask why Light is in here?”

“He found me,” L said.

“Really. He just happened to find you?” Actually, yes. L hadn’t intended for Light to follow him. Was Watari insinuating that it was anything but that? “Something tells me you didn’t try all that hard to dissuade him from you.”

“Think what you want,” L said. “I’ll be down in a minute.”

Visiting the children was always a tedious process, and if it were up to him he wouldn’t do it anymore. But Watari insisted that he needed to get some sort of social exposure, and if the only way to accomplish that was hanging out with a bunch of annoying genius kids - well, so be it.

Watari left, and Light spoke up: “Why are you here? Why do the children all know you?”

“Obviously I’m here because I live here, Light,” L said. “And they all know me because I live here.”

“That’s not what I meant, idiot.”

“I guess I just couldn’t withstand your charms and came crawling back,” L sighed, and this was less of a lie than before.

“That’s not what I meant either. Why do you live here? I’ve figured out that this school is trying to raise detectives, and it makes sense that you’re their role model or something. But then why are you pretending to be Watari’s assistant?” Light asked.

“You know I can’t show my face,” L replied. “As for the romodel part, you’re not far off.”

“Well?” Light prompted.

“I shouldn’t tell you. And if you can’t figure it out, then you probably aren’t fit to teach here.” L hopped off the bed. “We should probably get going.”


	16. Chapter 16

The two left the room via the spindly steps. “These are terrible,” Light commented. “How is Watari supposed to bring your cart of sweets up here if walking up alone is an exercise all on its own?”

“I normally don’t eat quite as many sweets as I did during the case,” L replied. “Watari can normally bring them up on a tray in two trips.”

Light laughed. “Two tray fulls is still a lot. How big are the trays?”

“A bit bigger than my head.”

Light laughed again. “So where do we go from here?” L realized that he had led them to the front doors, though he hadn’t been considering going outside.

“Um... this way,” L directed, deciding that the kids would probably be at lunch. He marched Light off in that direction, feeling the need to show him around his home despite the fact that Light had already been living here for over a week.

They opened the doors to the cafeteria, though it could hardly be considered that. Because of the small amount of students, they all sat in one corner of the large room in small four person tables. Though the architecture of the room was stunning, the effect was dampened by the peeling card tables the kids sat at. Light had no hesitation striding over to the table where food was set out and serving himself a cup of soup, but L was a little more reserved. The food was probably packed with vegetables, and there were no sweets to be seen.

By the time Light finished he was still standy by the doorway. Some of the kids had spotted him and tried to wave him over, but he waited for Light to pick them out a spot, which ended up being at the same table as Matt and Mello. Matt waved at him half heartedly while Mello seemed to be trying to channel his entire being through an angelic smile and wave.

He was considering reaching over and snatching up Mello’s chocolate bar (where did he get those anyway?) when he felt a tug on his sleeve.

“Yes Light?” He asked.

“Aren’t you going to eat something?” Light asked.

“Light, you know I only eat sweets,” L reminded him.

“But there aren’t any here.”

“How observant.”

“Well you have to eat something!” Light said. “With how much you eat normally, you must have a metabolism of steel. You need to eat.”

L was pretty hungry, actually. He realized with alarm that he hadn’t eaten anything remotely sugary since he arrived - how had the time passed so quickly? As though agreeing with his train of thought, L’s stomach growled.

“You’re right. I’ll go to the kitchen and see if they have anything I might like. They usually keep it well stocked for when Watari isn’t around to make me sweets.”

“Don’t be silly!” Light laughed, pulling L back down by the wrist from where he had been about to stand up. “You should eat some real food. All the sugary stuff is just empty calories, they don’t keep you filled. It’s no wonder you have to eat so much!”

Light had given him this lecture before, and, as usual, he passed it off as nonsense. He was right, of course, but there was no way that L would ever give up his eating habits. But this time, when he tried to stand up again, Light pulled him down by the wrist once more.

“Light! Let go of me,” he demanded.

“Just try it! This soup is really good; I’m sure you’ll like it.” Light held out a spoonful. It looked gross - there were vegetables, for heaven’s sake! Did Light honestly think he could ever get L to put that into his body? But, miraculously, he realized he was already moving towards the offered spoon, and Light slipped it into his mouth with a satisfied smirk.

“It’s terrible,” L affirmed.

“No it’s not, you’re just being an ass,” Light said.

L rolled his eyes and, once again, stood up. He was going to get himself some cake, and there was no way he would put that disgusting concoction Light called “food” in his mouth. He was stopped, this time not by Light, but by the sight in his peripheral vision of Mello staring at him, wide eyed and disbelieving.

“Yes Mello? Do you need something?” L asked.

“No, but I think You need some crazy pills!”

“I’m sorry?”

“You just let that creepy new teacher who you just met earlier today feed you!” Mello said. “He could have poisoned it! What were you thinking?”

L looked down at Light, who was watching the whole situation with an amused smile. “I’m glad to know you’re worried about me, but Light and I actually already know each other. I lied earlier.”

“What!” Mello exclaimed. “You mean you’ve met this idiot before?”

“Light can hardly be called an idiot,” L defended.

“Does he know who you are?” Mello whispered, leaning across the table as though this was a private conversation and Light couldn’t hear every word they said.

“Yes.”

Mello was fuming now, glaring furiously in Light’s direction. He snapped off a corner of his chocolate bar, and L winced. Though he was a messy person, he was very particular about his food being not only tasty, but visually appealing as well. The bit off corner left the piece of candy looking broken and imperfect.

Light, next to him, still had that smirk on, but this time directed at Mello.

Mello glared back. L didn’t blame him for his hatred of Light; their personalities clearly clashed, not to mention how smart Light was. Though he wasn’t officially in the running to be a successor, he was participating in classes and so might as well be considered competition. Were Light not as charismatic as he was, he would have made many more enemies than just Mello.

Light stood up. “Dinner was amazing,” he announced, “But I’m tired. It’s been a long day; I think I’ll go to bed.”

Mello rolled his eyes. “Do whatever you want, but there’s no reason to announce it to the world.”

“I wasn’t announcing it to the world,” Light retorted. “I was announcing it to Ryuzaki.”

“As if he cares.”

“I’m sure he does.”

“I don’t,” L chimed in, just for the fun of it. Mello’s hostile demeanor tended to get on his nerves, but any chance at annoying Light he would take.

Light turned to look at him accusingly. “Well, you should, because I’m sleeping in your bed.”

A girl at the table next to them gasped at having heard that. “Nobody goes into Ryuzaki’s room though!”

“Well, I guess he’s just so enamoured with me that he’ll allow it,” Light said smugly.

Their table went quiet. Enamoured? What did Light think he was doing? English wasn’t his first language, so maybe he had mixed up his words... But that was unlikely. This was Light, probably the brightest student in Japan.

They couldn’t ask him what he meant though, because he had already disappeared.

“What the hell was that?” Matt finally asked.

“I’m going to go get something sweet from the kitchen,” L said.

“Hey! Answer my question!”

L didn’t. All he wanted was a piece of chocolate cake and some time alone. But once he got up to his room (with said piece of cake in tow) he realized that Light hadn’t been lying - he was indeed in L’s bed, though he wasn’t sleeping.

“Light, please get off my computer. That contains classified information,” L said.

Light looked up from where he was hunched over the screen, probably trying to read the small print of some kind of investigation file from the way his eyes were squinted in concentration. “If you say so. But if I were you, I’d check out the victim’s fiance. They seem kind of sketchy to me.”

“Obviously I will do that,” L lied. He hadn’t taken a look at that case yet, but now that Light had made an observation of it, it was no good. There was no fun in it if he was getting help from others. “But please put away my computer now.”

Light folded up the computer reluctantly and slid it under the bed. “Whatever you say.”

“Light, what are you doing in here?”

“I told you, I’m going to bed.”

“Obviously not; you were just on my computer.”

“Is it wrong to want to spend time with my best friend?” Light asked, looking up at him with eyebrows raised.

L shook his head in disbelief at Light’s cockiness. “Well, please leave.”

"No," Light said simply, unfolding himself so he was laying down, taking up a good bit of the twin sized mattress.

Well, that wasn't going to stop him from sitting on his own bed! L marched over and tried to pull the blanket out from under Light, but it wouldn't budge. Admittedly, his arms weren't that strong - there was a reason he fought with his legs - and Light was heavier than him. Light smirked up at him, and, in a sing-song voice, taunted, "I'm not getting up!"

"Find," L huffed. He was the greatest detective in the world - he wasn't going to let himself be upset by some unruly teenager!  but instead of walking off like a responsible adult, he settled for planting himself right on top of Light's chest, making the man wheeze.

"Ryuzaki!" Light complained. "Get off of me! I can't breath!"

"I'm sorry, but that won't be an option. I work best in my bed; it doesn't matter much to me whether I'm sitting on the mattress or on another person," L replied.

Instead of replying (probably because he couldn't breathe properly with all of L's weight on him) Light shoved him forward off of his chest.

"That wasn't very polite, Light," L mumbled. He yelped at the feeling of Light's hands at his hips - "Light, what are you doing!" Before Light had pulled him up so that he was sitting between Light's legs, his back facing Light’s chest. Light’s arms snaked in front of his chest so that he was pressed uncomfortably close to the other, but Light seemed content to rest his chin on L's shoulder and ignore any protests.

"Light, I need my computer."

"Hmm..."

"I have some very important cases I need to work on," L lied. Light just squeezed him firmly and more closely.

"You're lying."

"And how do you know that?"

"Because I looked through your computer," Light replied. "The last case you solved was one measly murder - I have a hard time believing that you would bother solving such an unimpressive case unless you had a reason to."

"And what would you think that reason is?" L asked.

"To see me, maybe?"

Well, it was true, though Light's arrogance was irking. "Why do you think that?"

"Near told me that you only visit every five cases. I can't imagine any other reason that you'd be in such a rush to visit here."

"This is my home, Light. Of course I'd want to visit. You have nothing to do with it."

Light hummed skeptically. "If you say so."

Light didn't let him go any time soon, but L couldn't really say he minded. It was comforting and... warm. He had been so very cold as of late - perhaps he was getting sick? But even after Light appeared to have fallen asleep, (L knew he had been lying when he said he was a light sleeper; not everyone could fall asleep in such an awkward position) he stayed there. He was beginning to feel a bit tired himself; he realized that it had been days since he had slept more than five minutes at a time. Had he really been that restless to see Light?

But now Light was right here, and there was no need to deprive himself. A bit of sleep would be beneficial... he shifted over so that Light was no longer resting on his slumped back; instead they were laying down on their right sides. Light adjusted himself to make the position more comfortable - he wasn't asleep then. L couldn't bring himself to be bothered; he wasn't making any moves to uncurl himself from around L's body, so it didn't really matter.

"Goodnight," Light yawned.

"Goodnight," L repeated. Light didn't normally tell him goodnight. Though they got along well during the period when they were chained together, nighttime was when Light seemed to be most resentful towards him. During the day the chain was relatively unobtrusive, but at night, between showering, getting dressed, and having to sleep in the same bed, he could imagine that Light wouldn't want to wish him a good night.

Except now they were still sleeping in the same bed, a much smaller one at that, and Light didn’t seem to be at all angry. In fact, L suspected, even if it were bigger, Light would still be pressed up against his back. Was it just because he was here of his own free will? But why was he here of his own free will, when he probably had a much nicer bedroom of his own that he could sleep in?

The answer seemed obvious - Light simply didn’t mind him as much anymore, though he couldn’t imagine why. Perhaps it was just that they had needed time apart after weeks of being within an arms length of each other, and now Light was more receptive of the other.

Once he solved the dilemma and his mind was at ease, he fell asleep fairly easily; probably even before Light.

Light’s arm was asleep, having been crushed by the weight of L’s body within a few minutes of laying down, but he couldn’t bring himself to move it and disturb L, who was clearly deep in thought. It wasn’t so bad though, waiting the few minutes it took for L’s body to go limp, and even after that, he found that he was reluctant to disrupt the tranquility that had settled throughout the room. Laying here was warm and comforting and right, and even when he did move, all he did was pull out the arm underneath L, which he put under the pillow to rest his head on.

The sensation of being so incredibly close to L was magnificent, and he was hit with the sudden urge to turn L over so that they were face to face, and kiss his forehead, nose, cheeks, mouth...

That thought was unexpected, but Light was a genius, and it didn’t take much for him to realize the implications of these recent urges to be intimate with L. And really, it made sense, didn’t it? After much thought, Light couldn’t see how he hadn’t realized these feelings earlier - L was his only equal, after all, and the only one worthy of these affections.

Light pulled L closer, practically draping himself over the other’s body. This was perfect. L might even return his feelings with the way he was letting Light cuddle him like this, and even if he didn’t, surely they would develop with time, right?

Light stopped that train of thought before it could develop. There was no use dwelling on things that might make him unhappy, especially when he was holding L’s body close to his and the man was actually letting him. The first thing he noticed when he started to really pay attention to his situation was that L smelled surprisingly clean, despite the fact that he probably never shampooed his hair. Well, that wasn’t entirely accurate - Light knew from their time together that L washed his hair, albeit with the generic, abrasive stuff that Light couldn’t stand. It was the brushing that he seemed entirely incapable of.

Light fell asleep before he could think any more about L’s hair.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Updates are probably going to slow down after this chapter because there are some plot issues I have to work out in the next few chapters, so bear with me! Thank you all for your support so far; I'm hoping to get this done as soon as possible :)


	17. Chapter 17

The first thing Light noticed when he woke up was that he still had an arm draped over L, which was odd. With as terrible a sleeping schedule as he had, L was normally up much earlier than Light. Light crawled over L to get a better look at him, as he was still facing away from Light. As he expected, L’s eyes were already wide open, and not at all bloodshot, indicating that he had been awake for quite some time. Yet he had stayed in Light’s embrace all morning - L wasn’t just letting Light touch him, he was prolonging it. What a great way to start the day.

“Good morning, Light,” L greeted, and Light realized that they were close enough that L’s breath was tickling his face.

“Good morning, Ryuzaki.”

...

“I’ve made a decision,” Light announced.

“Oh?”

“I want you to brush your hair.”

L blinked. “I always brush my hair, Light.”

Light snorted. “Well we obviously have different ideas of what that means, because I assure you, your hair is not brushed.”

“If you say so,” L conceded. “My hairbrush is somewhere in the dresser.”

Light hopped away from L and walked to his dresser. It turned out to be completely unorganized with only a small sense of order - he was pretty sure the upper right drawer was supposed to be underwear but it was hard to tell with the abundance of white shirts mixed in, and the middle left drawer looked like it was for pants, but it was in here that he found the hairbrush.

When he made his was back to the bed, L was sitting with his legs crossed on the bed with his back turned toward Light. “Here,” Light said, dropping the brush into L’s lap.

“Oh. You’re not going to do it for me?” L asked. “I thought the purpose of this was so that my hair would be brushed to your standards.”

“I want you to show me what you think hair brushing is so that I can insult it.”

L shrugged and took the hairbrush, dragging it though his hair. Light winced at hearing the sound of hair ripping from L’s careless handling of it - Light didn’t even have long hair, but knew that L was absolutely destroying his. “Okay, okay, stop,” Light said and yanked the brush out of L’s hand. “I’ve seen enough.” He sat down behind L on the bed. L’s hair was a mess - how could the man claim to brush his hair everyday? Light didn’t even know where to start; he knew that girls brushed starting at the bottom and working their way up, but where even was the end of L’s hair?

He ran a hand through it, and a few clumps of tangled hair came apart from the main mass - those would be a good start then. L’s hair was soft, he discovered, after being brushed, and he found that (where it was untangled enough to do so) it was enjoyable to run his fingers through the strands.

“Light, this hurts,” L complained about halfway through.

Light laughed. “If you did this every day it wouldn’t.” He could imagine that the constant tugging was beginning to make L’s head sore, especially since he had started working on a particularly nasty tangle. Well, he was trying to be gentle; this was L’s own damn fault.

“Are we almost done?” L asked.

“No. Sorry,” Light added.

Light threaded his hands through the other’s hair as an apology. Well, he wasn’t actually sure if L found it comforting, but he certainly enjoyed the feeling, and L hadn’t told him off for it. He finished brushing as quickly as possible, which probably hurt, but L would understand that it was only because Light was trying to get the task over with.

“There,” he announced. “All done.”

“Hmm... I can’t see how this is in any way rewarding to the people who do it.”

“Well it doesn’t hurt nearly as much if you would do it more often,” Light replied, though he knew that L already knew this - it was pure logic. Light was sure that the “adorably naive” font was all an act, but he couldn’t say it wasn’t cute, and still felt compelled to answer all of the man’s questions. “And people do it because it looks nice.”

L hummed in thought before turning around to face Light, and he had to smile. L looked like a wet dog, his hair limp and lifeless without the support the knots gave it.

“I do not like this,” L announced.

“No?”

“My hair is going to get in my face. I will not be doing this again.”

“Oh please, it already does that!” Light retorted.

L did not answer, and instead walked over to the mirror to examine himself, and promptly reached up to ruffle his hair.

“Hey! What are you doing?” Light demanded. “I spent fifteen minutes on that!”

“Fifteen more minutes than it took me to undo it, to,” L said with a smug grin.

“That’s not true!” Said Light, who was already striding across the room. “Here, look,” he said, and pulled L’s hands down to fix it. After a few seconds of combing through it with his fingers, L’s hair was looking just as it had before the man had messed it up. “See?” He asked, meeting L’s eyes in the mirror. “If it bothers you that much, you should wear a ponytail.”

L nodded, and the action reminded Light that he still had his fingers tangled in L’s hair. He moved them away, but L’s head followed, the man standing up straighter so that his head could follow Light’s hands.

Well, if L wanted Light to play with his hair, then he certainly wasn’t going to deny. He pulled his hand away completely, far enough that L wouldn’t be able to make contact with it even if he was standing all the way straight, and then threaded his fingers back through his hair.

L made a noise that sounded something like a sigh. It seemed to surprise them both, as L’s eyes opened wider than they normally were and he gave minute jolt upwards, but he relaxed quickly, allowing Light to continue the petting motions he was doing.

L’s hair was mussed up yet again from the way Light was playing with it, completely undermining the point of Light combing it in the first place, but neither mentioned it, and Light tried not to think about it. Light was working with two hands to massage L’s head, taking great joy in seeing L’s eyes go hooded in relaxation and his hair getter as ruffled as it normally was, but without the tangles. The wet dog look was cute on L, but a bit unsettling.

After a few minutes, Light regretfully pulled his hands from L’s hair, realizing that he probably had to go to his office for work. Not that he normally did; the students of course were able to find him anywhere, but from the sounds of it, going in here was one rule the students were reluctant to break.

That reminded of him of Mello’s outburst yesterday, and he smiled at the thought that the boy would probably be furious to hear that he had gotten to not only visit Ryuzaki in his room, but sleep in the same bed as him too. He hadn’t stayed at dinner long enough to see Mello’s reaction to him saying that, but he would be willing to bet that it was one of disbelief.

“Well, I should get ready for the day,” Light said, straightening his clothes (that he had slept in - gross.)

L just nodded, gazing at him calculatingly. “Have a nice day, Light,” he finally said.

“You too, Ryuzaki.”

The day was dull. He had no classes, and like usual, nobody showed up for help. That normally didn’t bother him though, because the house was so interesting that he could keep himself busy for hours on end, but now that he had spent time with Ryuzaki, he couldn’t make himself be interested in anything, not while he knew that instead he could keep himself busy with Ryuzaki. But the man seemed to leave his room rarely, if ever. Light didn’t know, because he didn’t actively look for him - that would be creepy- although he couldn’t say he wasn’t keeping an eye out.

At lunch, he decided that seeing L was more important than his job  and stomped up to L’s room.

L was sitting, once again, on his bed with his legs crossed, but this time facing the door, and therefore Light. Light wondered briefly if this was his new bullshit method of thinking better, but then L was greeting him and he put away his thoughts for later.

“You’re not at lunch,” Light observed.

“No, I prefer Watari bring me the food that I like. I cannot eat it in the cafeteria, though, or the kids will be jealous and I will have to share.”

Light had to concede that that made sense. “Well, you should go downstairs anyway. I’m sure the students are impatient to visit with you.”

“I’m sure you’re lying,” L replied. “Mello’s the only one who gets excited to see me - well, Near too, but he hides it. All the other children besides Matt just think I’m Watari and L’s assistant.”

“Well, you should go down and visit with Mello then.”

L looked up. “I was unaware that you cared so much about Mello’s feelings. From what I can tell, the two of you don’t get along well.”

“That’s just an act. Mello and I get along great,” Light lied. Blatantly. “What are you even doing up here?”

“Thinking.”

“About...?”

“Things,” L said, as thought he was a little kid trying (and failing) to hide a secret. Light let it pass though, because L obviously wasn’t planning on elaborating.

“Hmm. Well, may I think with you?”

“No. You should go eat lunch.”

“I’m not hungry.”

“Really? From what time we got up this morning, I’m guessing you missed breakfast,” L said, and he had a point.

Light nodded, suddenly feeling very dejected. Was L perhaps mad at him for being so touchy-feely this morning and last night? But as unreadable as he was, Light didn’t detect even a little bit of anger in L. So it probably wasn’t that, which was good. Light waved and started off down the stairs, jolting to a stop when he nearly ran into Mello.

“Hi Mello,” Light said offhandedly.

Instead of his usual glare, Mello looked terrified. “I wasn’t going to go up there!” Was the first thing he said.

Light rolled his eyes. He didn’t doubt what Mello insisted, considering how scared he was at being caught. If the punishment was severe enough to make Mello look as scared as he was, he probably wouldn’t risk actually going up there. Eavesdropping, now... That was a different story altogether.

“What were you doing up there, anyway? Why are you allowed in Ryuzaki’s room?” Mello spat, reverting back to his normal hostility now that he knew he wasn’t going to be in trouble.

“I think the real question is why aren’t you allowed in? Does he really distrust you that much?” Light asked.

Mello narrowed his eyes. “Nobody’s allowed in there, idiot. He trusts me - I’m in second place!”

“Well, obviously some people are allowed in Ryuzaki’s room. I am.”

Mello looked like he was about to say something else, but the sound of steps down the staircase made them both look up.

“Mello, Light,” Ryuzaki said. “Please find a better place to fight. You’re disturbing me.”

“Why is he allowed in your room?” Mello asked.

“Light is a close friend of mine,” L replied.

“Near and I are first and second in the school! We should be your close friends!”

“I assure you, Mello, my room is nothing impressive. But it is personal, and I enjoy my privacy.”

Mello glanced at Light, and they all knew what he was going to say - “But why is Light allowed in?” but he seemed to realize that the conversation was futile. With something akin to a snarl, he stomped away, and Light couldn’t help but grin.

“Light,” L addressed. “Please refrain from aggravating Mello. He’s four years younger than you; this really isn’t something I should have to tell you.”

Light turned in shock. Mello had instigated the argument! He was just defending himself! But L had already retreated back to his room. Light considered following, but, having been kicked out not five minutes prior, he doubted he would have any better results this time with getting L to let him stay.

Today pizza was being served for lunch, and it was, admittedly, pretty good, but it was spoiled by the death glares Mello was sending his way from a few tables over. Matt, sitting next to him, gave him an apologetic grin, which earned him an elbow in the side from Mello.

Light rather liked Matt. He was in third place in the rankings, so he had to be a diligent student (though Light couldn’t see how he could have time to study with the way his nose was always stuck in a videogame) and in comparison to the rest of the eccentric geniuses here, he was pretty normal.

Still, Light couldn’t really consider him a friend because Mello was very much not his friend and any side that Mello was on, Matt was as well.

A tug at his sleeve made Light set aside his resentful thoughts and look down at Near, who was seated next to him.

“Hey,” he said.

“Is it true that you knew Ryuzaki before he came here?” Near asked in his usual distant way, but Light could tell that he was genuinely curious.

“Yes,” Light replied simply.

“How?” 

Light stayed silent, thinking. Near knew who “Ryuzaki” really was, and if Light told him how they had really met - well, he didn’t need two creepy geniuses thinking he was Kira.

“Well?” Near prompted. “Aren’t you going to tell me? Ryuzaki isn’t any ordinary person; he doesn’t meet many people. If he knows you personally and you’re close enough to him to be in his room, you must be pretty special.”

Light smiled at the sort of compliment. It was wearing him down, being in a school full of people who were just as smart as him. He didn’t stand out from the crowd anymore, and didn’t receive nearly enough compliments to satisfy his ego.

“I met him during a case,” Light answered simply.

Despite the vague nature of his answer, Near’s eyes flashed in understanding. It wasn’t hard to connect the dots and realize that it was been the Kira case, though Light doubted Near would be able to figure out the nature of his involvement. Then again, it was suspicious that a high school aged student would be involved in the case in the sense that he was working alongside L, so in wasn’t impossible that Near would realize he was a suspect.

“My dad’s a police officer,” he added. “I got involved through him.” 

Near looked a bit skeptical, but nodded. “I’m not surprised. You’re exceptionally smart; I’m sure you were a valuable asset.”

“Thank you,” Light said.

“Why do you think Ryuzaki’s not eating with us?” Near asked after the pause.

“I don’t know. Mello and I got in an argument right by his room and he seemed a bit irritated about that, but he was being pretty antisocial before that.”

“That doesn’t say anything; L’s always been antisocial,” Near stated, and it irritated Light. ‘Not to me,’ he wanted to say, because L was always happy to talk to him and he had no right to be antisocial while Light was around. In fact, Light decided, L should have been sprinting down the stairs right now, realizing his mistake in upsetting Light by not showing his face all day and scolding him for fighting with Mello and not showing up for lunch-

He interrupted that line of thinking with the thought that maybe that was something Kira would think.

“I guess,” Light finally replied. He got up and scraped his plate, having barely touched his dinner. “I’m going to go talk to L.”

He needed to assure himself that he wasn’t Kira, and how better to do that than to get reassurance from L, the best detective in the world? His steps were becoming quicker with the increasing need to assure himself that he wasn’t Kira because Higuche was Kira so he absolutely couldn’t be. He didn’t know why he was suddenly considering it now; the thought rarely crossed his mind now and it was even rarer that he let it bother him. Whatever. L would fix this.

“Ryuzaki?” He called after knocking on the door. No answer, but he let himself in anyway. L was sitting at his computer on his bed, and seemed to be pretending not to notice Light, though his eyes gave him away, flicking across the room to the door.

L didn’t say anything until Light had crossed the distance and was beginning to crawl behind him on the bed. “Nice to let yourself in,” he commented.

“You weren’t answering,” Light reasoned.

“That doesn’t mean you’re allowed in my room. Last time you were in here I found you snooping on my computer. There are confidential files on here, you know.”

“Is that so?” Light asked, preoccupied with situating himself behind L in the same position as last time. It felt nice to wrap his limbs around the man, pulling his body backwards with his arms and sliding his legs into the pocket formed by L’s unique way of sitting. L stopped him though, pushing Light back and sliding himself forward.

“Please don’t do that, Light. Your closeness makes me uncomfortable.”

The idea that L wouldn’t want him to touch him like that was outrageous. “I’m cold though,” he protested.

“Perhaps you should consider investing in a jacket then,” L replied.

Light frowned at the back of L’s neck. “Why don’t you want me to touch you?”

“I’ve already told you, Light. Your closeness makes...”

“You seemed pretty comfortable last night,” Light interrupted.

“I can’t think like that,” L said, and then Light knew he was lying now because why would he change his excuse, instead of arguing in support of it? Light could think of at least ten arguments of the top of his head that he would have used, but then again, he lied quite a bit.

“I’m sure you can.”

“I can’t.” 

Light huffed and got off the bed. “Alright. I have to go back to my office. I’m sure Roger would be pretty upset if I wasted my day up here where no one can reach me,” he said, though L knew as well as Light that was a lie. The students didn’t need help and the teachers didn’t need substitutes. Light could probably leave the school entirely for weeks on end, and Roger would still pay him as long as he knew Light would be coming back when he was needed.

“What are you even working on?” Light asked once he was at the doorway, stalling for time. This had to have been the closest he had ever experienced to rejection, and it definitely wasn’t a feeling he enjoyed.

“A case.”

“Really? Are you ending your visit so soon? Near told me that you only visit every five cases.”

L was silent, prompting Light to creep over and look over his shoulder. The screen was blank.

“You’re not working on anything!”

“I told you Light. I’m thinking. I don’t like having anything on my screen; it distracts me.”

Light crossed his arms, staring down at L. L didn’t look up to meet his gaze.

“Well, goodbye. Have a nice day,” he finally said.

“Thank you, Light.”

... “Will you be coming to dinner today?”

For the first time, L looked up from his computer screen to stare directly at Light. “Light, I don’t know what you’re up to, but please stop.”

“Ryuzaki, I don’t think I understand. I’m not up to anything,” Light insisted - truthfully.

“You’ve been unusually clingy since I arrived,” L explained. “I don’t understand why, but I don’t appreciate being manipulated by Kira.”

The accusation stunned him. The whole reason for him coming up here was to make sure L really didn’t think he was Kira anymore. But he did apparently. It was almost physically painful. “I see.” Light said. “Believe it or not, Ryuzaki, I’m your friend, and friends spend time with each other. I was simply excited to see you again. But if you don’t want that, then that’s okay.”

L - L glared at him! Though they didn’t always get along, L hadn’t openly glared at him since their first fight. But after that, despite their occasional spats (and yes, sometimes Light couldn’t keep himself from punching L, and L would deliver a kick in return, but they never seemed to really mean it) Light never would have expected to see a look of such deep hatred aimed at him coming from L.

It hurt. A lot. But there was little he could do but glare back and leave (and leave the door open, so that L would have to get up and close it himself.) He retreated to his room, trying to figure out what L’s problem was.


	18. Chapter 18

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey guys! Sorry for the long break, I was away for the holidays and this chapter needed some pretty heavy editing so uhhh, whoops! After the next chapter I'll have run out of prewritten material, so updates will be coming a little more slowly :( but we're almost done and I'm really excited to be nearing the end of my first multi-chaptered fic! Enjoy, and remember that I love hearing what you think in the comments! ^_^

Light was still pacing back and forth across the length of his room when a knock sounded on his door. He didn’t answer, but the door opened anyway.

“Light?”

He turned around, finally facing whoever had had the audacity to come in on their own. Surprisingly, it was little girl with blond hair - Linda. Unsurprisingly, Near was there as well. The kid’s face sent a bolt of anger through him, because he just looked and acted so much like L.

“Hello Light.”

“Hi Near,” He muttered.

“Linda needs help with her homework,” he said, gesturing to Linda.

Linda, Light knew, wasn’t all that smart - at least, not by whammy house standards, and if it weren’t for her amazing skills at math, she probably would have been transferred to a less elite orphanage. Well, he didn’t really know how those things worked around here, but he figured that if someone wasn’t keeping up with the standards, they couldn’t be around.

Linda also had a special talent for art, as Light had mentioned to L, but Whammy house didn’t really care about those sort of things. So whatever the goal of the orphanage was (and Light was starting to get a pretty good idea) Linda probably wasn’t being considered.

Her homework was just looking up facts from a book, and Linda probably didn’t actually need help, but Light was grateful toward Near for bringing him a distraction anyway.

The wait until dinner was a long one, though, and he didn’t even know if he wanted to go down to eat if he was going to have to see L. Which was ridiculous, because he had been the one to urge L to at least come down for dinner.

In the end, Light was too hungry to skip dinner. A few moments after Light sat down, L arrived as well.

“Hello, Light,” L greated as he sat down next to him.

Light couldn’t help but feel disappointed that L was still being so distant despite this being the norm. L was always like this - blank, reserved, unapproachable. What more could he want? It was a rhetorical question, Light knew - he wanted L to open up, for him and him only. He wanted L to let him be affectionate, and to return his advances. But this was L, and that was never going to happen.

L was staring at the wall opposite from them and half heartedly eating cake, as though he kept forgetting that it was there until there was a forkful of it prodding at his lips, and Light knew that L wouldn’t appreciate Light disturbing him, but the temptation was too big. He slid across the short distance of the bench so that he was right next to L, thigh to thigh and arms brushing.

“Ryuzaki,” Light whispered.

L jerked his head from where he had been staring, to look at Light, and now their noses were almost touching and it would be so easy to just lean forward and...

“Ryuzaki,” Light repeated. “Do you really still think I’m...?”

“Of course, Light,” L said, but his voice sounded more gentle than usual, almost melodic and Light could have easily ignored the words actually spoken and pretend that L was whispering something far less disappointing into his ear, instead of once again accusing him of being a mass murderer.

“Why!” Light said, much louder than intended, but he needed an explanation, and he was so, so, sick of knowing his closest friend thought so lowly of him... “The killings stopped after we caught Higuche, and the thirteen rule is real. What more do you need to prove that I’m not Kira?”

“Shh!” L said harshly, looking around to make sure no one could overhear them, but they were alone at their table, and the students all appeared to be preoccupied. “Can’t we talk about this later?”

“I tried, but you kicked me out of your room,” Light snapped. That seemed to shut L up, but when he finished his cake and stood up he tugged on Light’s sleeve.

“Come on. We’ll talk upstairs.” L led him up to his room, which was dark and strangely desolate.

“Why do you still think I’m Kira!” Light asked as soon as the door clicked shut.

“Light,” L began, going to sit down on his bed. “I want you to listen to me closely.”

Light made a disapproving noise, but nodded.

“I believe you are Kira because there is too much evidence not to-” L held up a hand to shush Light’s protests. “However. I am unable to do anything at the moment to prove your guilt. If you are innocent, I am sure it will become clear soon.”

“And what will make it clear?” Light sneered. “Perhaps a fifty day incarnation with no contact with the outside world? Or four months handcuffed to you? Or a rule that says that if I were Kira I would be dead by now? Or the fact that Kira hasn’t killed in almost a month?”

“You are proving my point, Light. There is evidence for and against you, and unless the killings resume once more, there is no way that you can be caught,” L said.

“Ha! Like that’s going to stop you. So I’m just supposed to sit here and wait for you to get bored before arresting me so you can wrap up the case?”

“It wont?” L asked mildly. “Light, haven’t you heard? I’ve officially declared that the Kira case is closed. I’m not working on it anymore.”

Light took a moment to process that bit of information - L still believed that he was Kira, but was closing the case? “Why?” He simply asked.

L shrugged. “I have become bored with this case. And as I said, I cannot continue to pursue you as a suspect so long as the killings are stalled.”

Light marched over to where L was still sitting on the bed and grabbed the man’s shoulders.

“Light, what are you..?”

Light ignored whatever it was L was trying to say, tilting his head to the side as though it would allow him to see deeper into L’s motives. Why was he doing this? This wasn’t like L at all! He voiced this opinion.

L stared up at him blankly. “I told you. There’s no new evidence-”

“You’re L! Find some!” Light urged, punctuating his words by shaking L’s shoulders a bit.

“I... Don’t want to.”

It was Light’s turn to stare blankly. So this was it? L was giving up one of his hardest cases simply because he didn’t feel like finishing it? “Whatever. I’m going to bed.” Light wasn’t all that tired, but he didn’t want to deal with L’s confusing antics. He just wanted to sleep, preferably with L in his arms - but that probably wasn’t going to happen. He considered asking to spend the night in L’s room, but he didn’t want to spend another night sleeping in his clothes, and he could only do this so many times under the guise of wanting to spend time with his friend before it would get weird. He bade L goodnight.

 

He awoke some time in the night to the sound of his door being opened, and nearly jumped out of bed at the intruder, but recognized L’s silhouette outlined by the hallway light.

“Ryuzaki?”

“I apologize for the interruption, Light,” L said. “I am afraid I am having trouble sleeping tonight; do you mind if I join you?”

Light slurred an affirmative and rolled over to make room. Once L got under the covers, he asked, “What time is it?”

“Around three in the morning.”

Light saddled up behind L and threw an arm over him. “Mmm. You shouldn’t stay up too late.”

“Ah. I must have mislead you during our time together by adjusting my sleeping habits to accommodate you - this is nothing out of the ordinary.”

Light’s mind was still fuzzy with sleep, and, not thinking about what he was doing, sought out L’s hand to give it a squeeze. “Well, you should work on that. I don’t want you-”  _ yawn  _ “-to get sick.”

 

L stared at the wall, going over the reasons that crawling into Light’s bed in the middle of the night hadn’t been a good idea. He had been attempting to distance himself from Light in order to improve his thinking as he mulled over the Kira case. He wanted to think that he had done a reasonable thing in ending the case, but Light’s presence seemed to muddle his thinking, and he needed to be sure that he was doing the right thing.

Light had to be Kira; L was sure of it. Yet he found, increasingly, that he didn’t really care. He found that thinking about catching Kira, even if he were to attain the evidence he needed, upset his stomach, and while he was sure that Kira deserved the death penalty, did Light?

So whatever. He wasn’t going to continue the case. As far as anyone knew, Higuche had been the final Kira. And though it had been some time since he made this decision, it was hard to break the habit of accusing Light. Reflecting on Light’s earlier outburst, he resolved to make more of an effort to stop. While it was fun to fight with Light, if L wasn’t actually going to continue his investigation, it would be cruel for him to continue - this was clearly a sore spot for Light.

Light’s arm was still curled around him, and L leaned into the embrace. He knew this was out of the ordinary for friends, but Light’s clinginess as of late was beginning to clue him in as to what ulterior motives he could be hiding, and L found that he didn’t particularly care. He seemed just as unable to stay away from Light as Light was to him - after their spat, he found himself dragged down to dinner by his own guilt, even though he knew rationally that he needed to stay away from Light to maintain his objectivity. 

Light’s insistence on maintaining physical contact had led him here to test a theory - would Light be receptive of his presence even while he was upset with him? Apparently so, L thought, remembering the little hand squeeze Light had granted him, and the affectionate tone to his voice when he chastised L for his bad habits. He… could get used to this.

**Author's Note:**

> I have quite a few chapters already written, so I'll try to get those posted asap! Unfortunately, I didn't divide this into chapters while I was writing it, so I've been having to read through this and section it out as I go, which may explain the variations in chapter length. Thanks for reading, and feel free to let me know what you think - I always appreciate comments! ^_^


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